Despite senior Edo Bawono’s defeat of the nation’s ninth-ranked player, Alex Hartman of Ole Miss, the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team fell just shy of upsetting the No. 9 Rebels in Friday’s quarterfinal match of the 2001 Southeastern Conference Championships in Lexington.
Kentucky fell behind early after losing the doubles point. Ole Miss used the powerful combination of James Shortall and Kris Stahlberg at No. 1 to defeat UK’s tandem of juniors Johan Grunditz and Reven Stephens. The 16th-ranked UM team took out the Cats 8-3, before Martin Selin and Paul Ciorascu secured the Rebel point by defeating UK senior Edo Bawono and freshman Karim Benmansour, 8-6.
The Cats looked to get back on track in singles as freshman Rahim Esmail took out Patrick Chucri in straight sets to pull UK even with Ole Miss, 1-1. The victory was an important personal accomplishment for Esmail, who fell to Chucri in a third-set tiebreak on the match-clinching court in the teams’ meeting on March 30.
Bawono tallied the Cats’ next singles win after Benmansour and freshman Matt Emery lost on courts two and three, respectively. The 45th-ranked senior recorded his second win over a higher ranked oppenent in as many days. The Jakarta, Indonesia, native knocked off 43rd-ranked Eddie Coates of Vanderbilt in Thursday’s opening round. Both wins for Bawono avenged losses in the SEC regular season.
Kentucky’s final singles win came at No. 5, where junior Gustav Pousette picked up the win after dropping the middle set, 6-3. With the score knotted at three, the attention turned to the No. 4 court, where Grunditz had dropped a first set tiebreak to Selin, 8-6. Selin went up 5-1, before Grunditz clawwed back to a 5-3 deficit. Selin held strong and put away the match on-serve. The match seemed all too familiar for the Kentucky squad, who dropped the March 30 contest to the Rebels by the same score. It was the first loss for the Cats since they fell to Georgia, the tournament’s top seed, on April 6 in Athens, Ga.
“I think it shows tremendous character the way we turned our season around,” Associate Head Coach Ford Lankford said. “We were 7-12 at one point in the season and came back to win eight of our last nine. This team overcame a lot and really stayed strong.” The Wildcats will now await the May 3 announcement of the NCAA Tournament field to see where their season will continue. In other action at the Championships on Friday, Alabama shocked third-seeded LSU, 4-3, to advance to Saturday’s 9 a.m. semifinal. The Crimson Tide will face No. 2-seed Tennessee, who beat No. 10-seed South Carolina to advance. Ole Miss will play the winner tonight’s Georgia/Mississippi State quarterfinal.
Match Seven
#4 Ole Miss vs. #5 Kentucky
Ole Miss 4, Kentucky 3
Singles
No. 1 #45 Edo Bawono (UK) def. #9 Alex Hartman (UM) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
No. 2 #38 James Shortall (UM) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 #31 Kris Stahlberg (UM) def. Matt Emery (UK) 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 Martin Selin (UM) def. Johan Grunditz (UK) 7-6 (6), 6-3
No. 5 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Paul Ciorascu (UM) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
No. 6 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Patrick Chucri (UM) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 #16 Shortall/Stahlberg (UM) def. Grunditz/Reven Stephens (UK) 8-3
No. 2 Selin/Ciorascu (UM) def. Bawono/Benmansour (UK) 8-6
No. 3 Hartman/Chucri (UM) vs. Emery/Pousette (UK) 5-6, Ab.
