April 20, 2000
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks, 4-1, on Thursday in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Championships. The Cats won the doubles point, as well as three of the singles matches. The No. 5 and 6 matches were suspended after Kentucky clinched the match.
The biggest upset of the day came at the No. 1 singles position when No. 82 Johan Hesoun defeated Oskar Johansson, ranked 15th in the country, 6-4, 6-1. Carlos Drada, ranked 25th nationally, defeated Henrik Tofft, 6-2, 6-3. Gustav Pousette earned his eighth win in nine matches, defeating Chris Campbell, 6-1, 6-3. The Cats only singles loss came when Edo Bawono fell to Magnus Kullenberg, 6-2, 6-2.
In the doubles matches, Bawono and Hesoun defeated the team of John Deaton and Tofft, 9-8(2). Drada and Reven Stephens were also victorious, defeating Aleksey Bubis and Eduardo Pacheco, 8-2.
The Cats will face two-seed Florida Friday at 9 a.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville.
CATS EARN SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE HONORS
The Southeastern Conference has announce the recipient of several honors including the 2000 Men’s Tennis Academic Honor Roll and the 2000 SEC Men’s Tennis Awards.
Senior Carlos Drada was named Second-Team All-SEC for singles. Drada currently has a 24-20 overall record for the year, most recently defeating Henrik Tofft of Arkansas in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Starkville, Miss. The Cali, Colombia native competed in the 2000 Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in February, making it to the quarterfinals before falling to defending national champion Jeff Morrison of Florida.
Drada was also named to the 2000 Academic Honor Roll, along with four of his teammates: junior Edo Bawono, sophomores Johan Grunditz and Gustav Pousette and senior Samir Yajnik. Drada is majoring in finance and has earned a 3.50 grade point average in his four years at Kentucky. Bawono, a native of Jakarta, Indonesia, is also majoring in finance with a 3.10 gpa. Bawono consistently plays the No. 3 position on the team, accumulating a 25-16 overall record. Grunditz is majoring in management and has earned a 3.70 average. The Hallstahammer, Sweden native has a 21-19 record. Pousette, a native of Kohmarden, Sweden, is double majoring in foreign language (German) and international economics. He has earned a 4.0 gpa, and is one of only four student-athletes on the honor roll to do so.
Kentucky tied Auburn and South Carolina for the second most student-athletes named to the Honor Roll (five), with LSU leading all SEC schools with seven student-athletes. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have a 3.0 gpa for either the past year or cumulative, be sophomore or higher and have at least 24 semester hours.