May 18, 2002

College Station, Texas – The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team defeated the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Championships on Saturday, May 18. The Cats, seeded seventh in the tournament, advance to the quarterfinals with the 4-1 victory over Duke.

Kentucky took an early lead by capturing the doubles point. UK’s senior duo of Gustav Pousette and Johan Grunditz grabbed the first victory at No. 2, just moments before the point was divided with a Kentucky loss at No. 3. With an 8-6 victory on the first court, the 49th-ranked duo of Evan Austin and Karim Benmansour dominated the match against No. 28 Phillip King and Michael Yani of Duke to secure UK’s 1-0 lead.

“I think this was one of our better matches of the year,” Head Coach Dennis Emery said. “We did very well in doubles and I think that was key to winning this match. Our No. 1 duo played the best they have all year but you have to give Duke a lot of credit because they fought back really well.”

The Blue Devils came fighting back in singles action with a victory on the second court to even the score. Kentucky tallied three straight victories to lead them into the Elite Eight. Sixth-ranked Jesse Witten grabbed a straight-set win over No. 11 Phillip King, 6-4,6-4, at No.1, while Grundtiz battled Duke’s Joel Spicher on the fourth court. Grunditz dropped only two games in the first set for the 6-2 win, but Spicher started the second with four consecutive points. Down 4-1, Grunditz battled back and won the set, 6-4, giving UK the 3-1 lead. With action on Courts 3, 5 and 6 all entering the third sets, it was Pousette who tallied the clinching point for Kentucky. Splitting sets with Yorke Allen of Duke on the fifth court, Pousette took the third with a powerful 6-4 win to suspend action on the remaining courts.

Kentucky will face the Tennessee Volunteers in the quarterfinal round on Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m. at the Tennis Center on the Texas A&M University campus. The Cats and the Vols have met twice this season, with UK coming out victorious in both matches. The first 4-2 win came in the National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 9 followed by a 4-3 regular season victory on Mar. 1.

“I like our chances for tomorrow. We have a good young team that is hungry to win,” Emery said. “We have already beat Tennessee twice this season and the second meeting was a real dg fight. They are a great team and it will be extremely competitive tomorrow.”

Action can be followed by live scoring at www.aggieathletics.com or www.ncaachampionships.com.

AGATE:
Single
No. 1#6 Jesse Witten (UK) def. #11 Phillip King (Duke)6-4,6-4
No. 2#43 Michael Yani (Duke) def. #61 Karim Benmansour (UK)6-2,6-3
No. 3Evan Austin (UK) vs. Jason Zimmerman (Duke)DNF
No. 4Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Joel Spicher (Duke)6-2,6-4
No. 5Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Yorke Allen (Duke)6-2,4-6,6-4
No. 6Rahim Esmail (UK) vs. Peter Shults (Duke)DNF
Doubles
No. 1#49 Austin/Benmansour (UK) def. #28 King/Yani (Duke)8-6
No. 2Grunditz/Pousette (UK) def. Shults/Spicher (Duke)8-4
No. 3Bose/Zimmerman (Duke) def. Esmail/Witten (UK)8-6