March 23, 2003

The 10th-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team returned to its winning ways Sunday in handing 41st-ranked Mississippi State a 4-3 defeat at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Center in Starkville, Miss. The Cats took the doubles point and captured three of six singles matches to ensure the victory.

UK opened doubles play with victories at courts two and three. The 22nd-ranked tandem of Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten defeated MSU’s Rene-Charles Combette and Florent Girod by an 8-2 count. Evan Austin and Alex Hume sealed the doubles point with another 8-2 victory over Max Fomine and Michael Hailey.

Mississippi State’s Romain Ambert evened the score at one with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1 over UK’s Witten. From there, however, the Cats took control. Junior
Karim Benmansour, along with the aforementioned Esmail and Hume, won two-set matches at numbers three, five and six, respectively, to notch the Kentucky victory. Bulldog victories at numbers four and two would prove to be too little, too late.

With the win, UK improves to 12-7 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. The victory enabled Kentucky to leave the Magnolia State on a high note after being swept at Ole Miss Friday. The Wildcats will head out-of-conference this Wednesday, March 26 with a day-night doubleheader. Kentucky will meet Wright State at 1 p.m. and Eastern Kentucky at 6 p.m. All matches will be held at the Boone Tennis Complex on the UK campus.

AGATE:

Doubles1.Romain Ambert/Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) def. Karim Benmansour/Matt Emery (UK)- 8-22.No. 22 Rahim Esmail/Jesse Witten (UK) def. Rene-Charles Combette/Florent Girod (MSU)- 8-23.Evan Austin/Alex Hume (UK) def. Max Fomine/Michael Hailey (MSU)- 8-2

Singles1.No. 60 Romain Ambert (MSU) def. No. 11 Jesse Witten (UK)  6-2, 6-32.Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) def. Evan Austin (UK)  7-5, 6-33.No. 70 Karim Benmansour (UK) def. Jerome Le Belicard (MSU)  6-3, 6-44.Max Fomine (MSU) def. Matt Emery (UK)  6-3, 6-7(5), 1-0(6)5.No. 102 Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Florent Girod (MSU)  6-3, 6-26.No. 109 Alex Hume (UK) def. Luc Maasdorp (MSU)  6-1, 6-4