April 20, 2002
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The ninth-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team suffered a tough loss to No. 15 Auburn University in the semifinal round of the Southeastern Conference Championship on Saturday, April 20. The Cats, seeded seventh, fall to 20-9 on the season, while Auburn, the tournament’s third seed, stands at 16-6 overall and will advance to the conference championship to face either Georgia or Tennessee.
The Cats dropped the opening point in doubles with losses on the first two courts to Auburn’s nationally ranked teams. Action on court three was suspended with the UK duo of Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten leading 7-5.
Kentucky quickly evened the score with a victory at No. 5, before dropping three consecutive matches to the Tigers. Johan Grunditz took a powerful straight-set win over AU’s Mark Van Elden, dropping only four games. Esmail and Karim Benmansour suffered losses at No. 6 and No. 2 in straight-set decisions. On the fourth court, Gustav Pousette had dropped the first set to Mark Kovacs and found himself in a second set battle before falling, 7-6.
Action at No. 1 and No. 3 for UK’s Jesse Witten and Evan Austin was suspended with Witten leading in the deciding third set and Austin down by one in the second after a first set victory.
“Auburn played a great match today,” Coach Dennis Emery said. ” Our guys played a good but were a little beat up after playing two tough matches on Thursday and Friday. We had some great action in the tournament overall.”
Kentucky advanced to the semifinals after an opening round victory over Mississippi State, 4-2, on Thursday, April 18 followed by a 4-3 upset of second seeded and No. 5 nationally, Ole Miss in the quarterfinals on Friday, April 19.
The Cats take a break from action before the NCAA Regionals that will take place on May 11-12 at sites yet to be determined.
AGATE:
Singles
No. 1# 7 Jesse Witten (UK) vs. #18 Rameez Juneid (AU)SUS.
No. 2#66 Andrew Colombo (AU) def. #55 Karim Benmansour (UK)7-5,6-3
No. 3Evan Austin (UK) vs. #53 Taigo Ruffoni (AU)SUS.
No. 4Mark Kovacs (AU) def. #98 Gustav Pousette (UK)6-3,7-6
No. 5#118 Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Mark Van Elden (AU)6-1,6-3
No. 6Estavan Strecker (AU) def. Rahim Esmail (UK)6-2,6-4
Doubles
No. 1#16 Juneid/Ruffoni (AU) def. Austin/Benmansour (UK)8-5
No. 2#32 Colombo/Kovacs (AU) def. Grunditz/Pousette (UK)8-6
No. 3Esmail/Witten (UK) vs. Boz/Strecker (AU)SUS.
