March 17, 2002

The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team continued down the winning path with a 4-3 victory over No. 24 South Carolina on Sunday, March 17, in Southeastern Conference action. The seventh-ranked Cats improve to 4-1 in the SEC and 13-3 overall, while the Gamecocks fall to 9-3 and 3-3 in the SEC.

Kentucky took the early lead with a sweep of the doubles point. Action on the third court was suspended after the Cats were victorious at No. 1 and No. 2. The duo of Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour took a strong 8-3 win over No. 29 Marcus Westman and Angelo Niculescu while Matt Emery and Gustav Pousette defeated USC’s David Nelson and Ben Atkinson 8-4.

In singles action Kentucky grabbed victories at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 to secure the win over USC. Benmansour dominated his match with a straight set victory over Niculescu. Pousette dropped the first set to USC’s Nelson before fighting back in the final two for the win, while Rahim Esmail split sets with Rodrigo Pacheco before winning the third set, 7-5. Pousette and Esmail continue with excellence still standing undefeated in dual-match action.

The Cats travel to Waco, Texas on Friday, March 22 to face Baylor before returning to SEC action on Sunday, March 24 hosting Mississippi State at 2 p.m.

AGATE:
Singles
No. 1Seth Rose (USC) def. #5 Jesse Witten (UK)6-4,6-2
No. 2#39 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Angelo Niculescu (USC)6-3,6-3
No. 3Marcus Westman (USC) def. #77 Evan Austin (UK)2-6,6-4,6-1
No. 4#81 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. David Nelson (USC) 4-6,6-3,6-4
No. 5Carl Wermee (USC) def. Matt Emery (UK) 6-0,3-6,7-5
No. 6Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Rodrigo Pacheco (USC)6-3,2-6,7-5
Doubles
No. 1Benmansour/Austin (UK) def. #29 Westman/Niculescu (USC)8-3
No. 2Emery/Pousette (UK) def. Nelson/Atkinson (USC)8-4
No. 3Witten/Esmail (UK) vs. Rose/Wermee (USC)SUSPENDED