The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team ended a two-match losing skid on Sunday, Feb. 18, when it opened its Southeastern Conference schedule with a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Cats (6-4, 1-0 SEC) got off to a quick start, grabbing the doubles point as the duo of Edo Bawono and Reven Stephensknocked off the Tide’s pair of Stephen Mitchell and Susheel Narla, 8-5. No. 2 and 3 were close battles as Karim Benmansour andGustav Pousette secured the doubles point with their win over Maxim Belski and William Boyles at No. 2, while Matt Emery and RahimEsmail dropped a close one to Chris McRae and Chris Gostek, 9-7.

The Cats relied on its bevy of newcomers to pull out singles victories and notch the win. Bawono, the Cats’ lone senior, had anunusual loss at No. 1 as UA’s Belski came back from first-set tiebreak loss to take the match with two 6-4 wins. Emery grabbed theCats’ first singles win as he dominated Narla in straight sets, while Pousette was off his mark and fell to Gostek, 6-4, 6-2.

With the match knotted at two, it was up to newcomers Benmansour, Esmail and Scheck to pull off the win. Benmansour took hisfirst set over Mitchell, 7-5, before dropping the second 6-4. He was down 4-2 in the third set when he went down with an ankle injurybefore returning to take the match with the 6-4 third set. Esmail had no trouble with Michael Ray Pallares and took the match in straightsets to seal the UK victory. In the evening’s last match, Sheck grabbed a solid win over former Kentucky high school championMcRae.

The Wildcats enjoy a long break before returning to action on Thursday, March 8, when they play host to Indiana State. The matchis set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on UK’s campus.

SinglesNo. 1 Maxim Belski (UA) def. Edo Bawono (UK)          6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4No. 2 Matt Emery (UK) def. Susheel Narla (UA)          6-2, 6-4No. 3 Chris Gostek (UA) def. Gustav Pousette (UK)      6-4, 6-2No. 4 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Stephen Mitchell (UA) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4No. 5 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Michael Ray Pallares (UA) 6-2, 6-0No. 6 Todd Scheck (UK) def. Chris McRae (UA)          6-4, 7-6 (3)DoublesNo. 1 Bawono/Stephens (UK) def. Mitchell/Narla (UA)   8-5No. 2 Benmansour/Pousette (UK) def. Belski/Boyles (UA)9-7No. 3 McRae/Gostek (UA) def. Emery/Esmail (UK)          9-7