May 11, 2002

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The seventh-seeded University of Kentucky men’s tennis team swept the Murray State Racers, 4-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, May 11. The Cats will face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday, May 12, at 2 p.m. in second-round action.

“This was a great victory for us today,” Head Coach Dennis Emery said. “We played some great tennis this afternoon and hopefully we can play even better tomorrow. I am very proud of the way this team has been stepping up, especially in the NCAA tournament.”

Kentucky took an early 1-0 lead by capturing the doubles point with victories on the first two courts. The Cats’ top duo of 49th-ranked Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour took an 8-2 win over Nikola Aracic and Freddy Sundsten of the Racers. UK’s senior tandem of Gustav Pousette and Johan Grunditz secured the point with a 8-2 win over Alex Hoyen and Thiago Gondim.

The Cats rolled through singles action with three consecutive straight-set wins at No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6. Pousette defeated MSU’s Hoyem, 6-1,6-2, while Benmansour dominated court two, 6-1,6-3, to give UK a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Rahim Esmail secured the UK victory, downing Mike Schmidbauer, 6-4,6-0.

“This was a great team effort by us today, ” Esmail said. ” I think our intensity is very high right now and it should carry over to tomorrow’s match.”

In a morning thriller, Vanderbilt University upset 20th-ranked Ohio State University, 4-3. Taking the doubles point, Vanderbilt and a 3-1 lead before OSU rallied back. Even at 3-3, the deciding match came at No. 1 with 16th-ranked Bobby Reynolds of Vanderbilt and Phil Metz of OSU. Splitting sets, Reynolds fought back for a third set tiebreak victory to clinch the upset for Vanderbilt.

The Wildcats and the Commodores met in UK’s final Southeastern Conference and home match of the 2002 season, with Kentucky claiming a 6-1 victory. Second-round action between the two teams will take place at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. The match can also be followed through live scoring on www.ukathletics.com.

AGATE:
Singles
No. 1#6 Jesse Witten (UK) vs. Nikola Aracic (MSU)DNF
No. 2#61 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Freddy Sundten6-1,6-3
No. 3Evan Austin (UK) vs. Thiago Gondim (MSU)DNF
No. 4#92 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Alex Hoyem (MSU)6-1, 6-2
No. 5Matt Emery (UK) vs. Zakaria Bahri (MSU)DNF
No. 6Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Mike Schmidbauer (MSU)6-4,6-0
Doubles
No. 1#49 Austin/Benmansour (UK) def. Aracic/Sundsten (MSU)8-2
No. 2Grunditz/Pousette (UK) def. Hoyen/Gondim (MSU)8-2
No. 3Esmail/Witten (UK) vs. Bahri/Schmidbauer (MSU)DNF