The newly-formed doubles tandem of Reven Stephens and Johan Grunditz looked impressive in its win over the 18th-ranked Ole Miss duo ofJames Shortall and Kristofer Stahlberg to help Kentucky take the doubles point, but it wasnt enough to earn the Cats the upset over the 12th-rankedRebels.
The Cats (7-11, 1-5 Southeastern Conference) got the doubles point after pairing their win at No. 1 with a No. 3 win by Matt Emery and GustavPousette over Conor Casey and Martin Selin. Today’s doubles win marked the first for the Cats since they knocked out Indiana at home on March10
UM’s Alex Hartman looked impressive at the No. 1 singles position, taking out 49th-ranked Bawono in straight sets, while freshman KarimBenmansour was dealt a tough two set tiebreak loss by 38th-ranked Stahlberg. Emery came up short against Shortall at No. 3, falling in three sets.
With the 3-1 advantage for Ole Miss (13-4, 4-2 SEC), play focused on the final three singles matches. Wins by juniors Johan Grunditz and GustavPousette knotted the score at three-all and pushed the attention to the No. 6 court. UK freshman Rahim Esmail dropped the first set, 6-4, but battledfrom behind in the second to push the match to a third set. The two athletes played nip and tuck throughout the set and a strong effort by Esmailpushed the match to a tiebreak ending. Chucri came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the tiebreak by a tally of 7-3.
“I’m really proud of the heart that Rahim showed today on the court,” Coach Dennis Emery said. “We looked impressive in doubles play but justfell short in singles. There were a lot of positives in the loss today, and we look forward to the match with Auburn on Sunday.”
The Cats return to action on April Fool’s Day, Sunday, April 1, when they continue their home stand against Auburn at 2 p.m. Auburn is currentlyranked 15th in the nation and are 8-3 in spring dual match play.
Singles
No. 1 Alex Hartman (UM) def. #49 Edo Bawono (UK) 6-3, 6-1
No. 2 #38 Kristopher Stahlberg (UM) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 7-6, 7-6
No. 3 James Shortall (UM) def. Matthew Emery (UK) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
No. Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Paul Ciorascu (UM) 7-6(4), 6-2
No. 5 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Martin Selin (UM) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
No. 6 Patrick Chucri (UM) def. Rahim Esmail (UK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3)
Doubles
No. 1 Grunditz/ Stephens (UK) def. #18 Shortall/Stahlberg (UM) 8-2
No. 2 Bowano/ Benmansour (UK) vs. Hartman/Chucri (UM) DNF
No. Emery/ Pousette (UK) def. Conor Casey/Selin (UM) 8-2
