April 11, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Freshman Alex Hume won his 30th match of the season for the 12th-ranked Kentucky men’s tennis team Friday afternoon, but that would be the lone point the Wildcats could muster, as the eighth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores drilled Kentucky, 6-1 at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville, Tenn.

After Vanderbilt secured the doubles point by taking all three doubles matches, the focus turned to number one singles as Kentucky’s 16th-ranked Jesse Witten took on second-ranked Bobby Reynolds for the fourth time in one year. Witten, who took two of the previous three meetings, dropped the first set, 6-3, but rebounded to win the second set via tiebreaker. Witten took a 3-1 lead in the third, but Reynolds would sweep the next five games to win the match, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.

The Cats could not tally a point until the freshman Hume registered a three-set victory at No. 6 over Lewie Smith, though at that time, the Commodores had already clinched the match. Hume moves to 30-13 on the season, and wraps up his initial SEC campaign with an impressive 7-4 record.

Kentucky falls to 16-10 overall and completes SEC play with a 6-5 record, good for third place in the SEC East. The Cats will wrap up regular-season play Sunday afternoon against 60th-ranked Notre Dame. The match is set for 1 p.m. EDT at UK’s Boone Tennis Complex.

AGATE:

Doubles1. Bobby Reynolds/Scott Brown (VU) def. Karim Benmansour/Matt Emery (UK) 8-12. Matthew Lockin/Chad Harris (VU) def. No. 55 Rahim Esmail/Jesse Witten (UK) 8-43. Zach Dailey/Lewie Smith (VU) def. Evan Austin/Alex Hume (UK) 8-5

Singles

1. No. 2 Bobby Reynolds (VU) def. No. 16 Jesse Witten (UK)   6-3,6-7(4),6-32. No. 15 Chad Harris (VU) def. Evan Austin (UK)   6-1,6-7(3),6-43. No. 55 Matthew Lockin (VU) def. No.100 Karim Benmansour (UK)   6-4, 6-44. Zach Dailey (VU) def. Matt Emery (UK)   6-2, 6-25. Scott Brown (VU) def. Rahim Esmail (UK)   6-4,5-7, 6-16. Alex Hume (UK) def. Lewie Smith (VU)   6-4,1-6, 6-3