March 9, 2003

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fourth-ranked Baylor took two of three doubles matches to clinch the doubles point and proceeded to win five of six singles matches in defeating No. 9 Kentucky 6-1 Sunday at the Boone Tennis Center.

UK opened up doubles play with a win at number one. Karim Benmansour and Matt Emery handily defeated Benjamin Becker and Zoltan Papp, 8-3. Baylor, however, would bounce back to take the two remaining doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.

The match of the day took place at No. 1 as UK’s Jesse Witten took on BU’s Becker. Becker took the first set, 6-3 and appeared on his way to defeating Witten in straight sets, going up 4-2 in the second set. The defending NCAA runner-up Witten would not wilt, however, taking the next four games, and, by doing so, took the second set, 6-4. From there, Witten took command, defeating Becker with a 6-3 third-set showing.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Witten’s effort was too little, too late. The Bears had clinched the victory with three singles wins prior to what would prove to be the lone UK singles victory.

With the loss, Kentucky drops to 9-5 on the season. The Cats will take on Gulf Coast College in Naples, Fla. this Wednesday, Mar. 12 before heading to Gainesville, Fla. two days later to meet the second-ranked Florida Gators.

AGATE:

Doubles1.Karim Benmansour/Matt Emery (UK) def. Benjamin Becker/Zoltan Papp (BU) – 8-32.No. 34 Benedikt Dorsch/Reiner Neurohr (BU) def. Evan Austin/Jesse Witten (UK) – 8-63.Ivor Lovrak/Matias Marin (BU) def. Elliott Datlow/Tim Morgan (UK) – 8-5

Singles1.No. 10 Jesse Witten (UK) def. No. 67 Benjamin Becker (BU)3-6,6-4, 6-32.No. 51 Zoltan Papp (BU) def. Evan Austin (UK) – 7-5,6-23.No. 1 Benedikt Dorsch (BU) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) – 6-3,7-64.No. 30 Matias Marin (BU) def. Matt Emery (UK) – 6-1,7-65.No. 105 Ivor Lovrak (BU) def. Tim Morgan (UK) – 6-4,6-06.Reiner Neurohr (BU) def. Elliott Datlow (UK) – 6-0,6-1