The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team moved to 4-0 on the seasonafter knocking off DePaul, 4-3, and Western Michigan, 4-0, on Saturday,Feb. 3, at the Indiana Winter Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.

The Cats (4-0, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) worked hard to overcome DePaulas the two teams each grabbed three singles victories and were tied goinginto doubles. Junior Johan Grunditz and freshmen Matt Emery and RahimEsmail were each successful on the singles scene, while senior Edo Bawonofell to the 85th-ranked Jevgenij Cariov at the No. 1 position and juniorGustav Pousette lost in a third set tiebreak to Maciek Jozwiak. FreshmanKarim Benmansour also fell in singles action to DePaul’s Dan Bennett.

The Cats came alive in doubles, as the No. 2 duo of Bawono and juniorReven Stephens knocked off Bennett and Sanjay Jeram, 8-5, to claim thefirst win. Emery and Esmail put away the match for UK when they defeatedJozwiak and Andy Michael, 8-6.

The Cats came alive against Western Michigan, toppling the Broncos 4-0 insingles action to secure the win. Bawono, Emery, Stephens and Esmail eachcollected victories, eliminating the need for doubles competition.

“I’m really pleased with the outcome of the matches, but things weretighter than we had hoped,” Coach Dennis Emery said. “We came up big incrucial points, and I hope that momentum will carry over on our trips toIllinois and Harvard.”

Kentucky returns to action on Friday, Feb. 9, when the Cats travel toChampaign, Ill., to face No. 8 Illinois at 5:30 p.m.

AGATE

Kentucky vs. DePaul

Singles
No. 1 Jevginij Cariov (DU) def. Edo Bawono (UK) 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 Maciek Jozwiak (DU) def. Gustav Pousette (UK) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Robert Kurek (DU) 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
No. 4 Matt Emery (UK) def. Andy Michael (DU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 Dan Bennett (DU) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
No. 6 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Neil Johnston (DU) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 Kurek/Cariov (DU) def. Benmansour/Grunditz (UK) 8-4
No. 2 Bawono/Stephens (UK) def. Bennett/Jeram (DU) 8-5
No. 3 Emery/Esmail (UK) def. Jozwiak/Michael (DU) 8-6

Kentucky vs. Western Michigan

Singles
No. 1 Edo Bawono (UK) def. Steve Pillon (WMU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 Matt Emery (UK) def. Fernando Garcia (WMU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 Reven Stephens (UK) def. Ryan Tomlinson (WMU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Christian Brottstrom (WMU) 6-2, 7-6 (3)