Feb. 8, 2002
– The 23rd-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team upset the eighth ranked Southern Methodist Mustangs in the consolation round of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Friday Feb. 8. The Wildcats improve to 6-2 on the season while SMU drops to 2-3.
The Mustangs grabbed the doubles point with victories at No. 2 and 3, suspending play at No. 1. The Wildcat tandems of Jesse Witten/Rahim Esmail and Matt Emery/Gustav Pousette suffered losses to SMU’s 46th-ranked Krystain Pfieffer/Ryan Mauck and Gwinyai Chingoka/Lukasz Senczyszyn. Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour were down 5-4 against fourth ranked Johan Brunstrom abd Eric Cohn when play was abandoned.
Kentucky grabbed three straight victories in singles at No. 2, 5 and 6. Tenth ranked Witten overpowered Alexis Rudzinski for a straight set victory, while Pousette also grabbed a a strong 6-4,6-4 victory. Esmail gave Kentucky a 3-1 advantage when he dominated No. 6 singles for a powerful 6-0, 6-2 win. Emery secured the Wildcat victory after grabbing his first set in a tiebreak and forcefully taking the second set, 6-3.
With action still taking place at No. 1 and 3, play was suspended. Benmansour had dropped his first set and battled his way to a second set victory after an injury when action stopped, while Austin was down 3-4 in the second set after winning the first against SMU’s Brunstrom.
“Our team has been giving 110% effort throughout and today it has finally paid off for us,” Esmail said of the victory.
The Wildcats will face No. 4 Tennessee in the final consolation round on Saturday Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Louisville Tennis Club.
Other tournament highlights: No. 3 UCLA was upset, 4-1, by 12th-ranked Southern California… Georgia advanced to semifinals after defeating No. 10 Notre Dame, 4-2… No. 6 Illinois grabbed a big victory over No. 5 Ole Miss, 4-1… No. 2 Stanford defeated No. 9 Duke, 6-1.CONSOLATION: Pepperdine hands Brown 4-2 loss… No. 51 Indiana State upsets No. 11 California, 4-3… Tennessee defeats San Diego State, 4-2… Kentucky upsets SMU, 4-2. Individual results can be found at www.itatennis.com.
AGATE:SinglesNo. 1 Krystain Pfeiffer (SDSU) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 6-3,5-7 (RET.)No. 2 Jesse Witten (UK) def. Alexis Rudzinski (SDSU)6-2,6-1No. 3 Johan Brunstrom (SDSU) vs. Evan Austin (UK)SUSPENDED 7-6,4-3No. 4 Matt Emery (UK) def. Lukasz Senczyszyn (SDSU)7-6(4), 6-3No. 5 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Gwinyai Chingoka (SDSU) 6-4,6-4No. 6 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Eric Cohn (SDSU)6-0,6-2DoublesNo. 1 Brunstrom/Cohn (SDSU) vs. Austin/Benmansour (UK) SUS. 5-4No. 2 Pfeiffer/Mauck (SDSU) def. Witten/Esmail (UK) 8-5No. 3 Chingoka/Senczyszyn (SDSU) def. Emery/Pousette (UK) 8-6
