May 17, 2002
College Station, Texas – The seventh-seeded University of Kentucky men’s tennis team will open action in the NCAA Championships Round of 16 on Saturday, May 18. The Wildcats, ranked ninth in the country, will face No. 17 Duke University at 10 a.m. at the Tennis Center on the Texas A&M University campus.
The match against the Blue Devils marks the 13th meeting of the teams with Duke leading the series, 10-2. The two teams last met in 1999 at the University of Georgia also for the Round of 16 in the NCAA Championships. Duke defeated the Cats and ended their successful 1999 season, as the Cats will look for a different outcome this year.
Top match-ups include No. 29 Michael Yani and Philip King of Duke against UK’s No. 49 duo of Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour at the No. 1 doubles spot. In singles at No. 1 and No. 2, UK’s sixth-ranked Jesse Witten will face Duke’s No. 11 King, while Benmansour, ranked No. 61, will see action against No. 43 Yani of the Blue Devils.
Kentucky advanced to the “Sweet Sixteen” after defeating Murray State, 4-0, and Vanderbilt,4-3, in the first and second rounds hosted by the Cats. This year marks the sixth team under Head Coach Dennis Emery to advance to the NCAA Round of 16.
“We have a tremendous opportunity tomorrow,” Emery said. “We are in the Sweet Sixteen and to have the chance to make the Elite Eight is an even bigger honor. We may win of we may lose to Duke, they are a tough team, just as long as our guys play their best tennis out there then it should be a good match.”
The winner of the Wildcat/Blue Devil match will advance to the final eight teams and face the winner of the Tennessee/Texas match on Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m.
Action can be followed by live scoring on the official website of Texas A&M athletics at www.aggieathletics.com.
