April 30, 2003

The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team earned a No. 13 seed and will play host to Hampton in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament. Competition is set to begin Saturday, May 10 at UK’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The start times will be announced at a later date. Should Kentucky advance to the second round, the Cats will take on the winner of the Ohio State-Arkansas match, also scheduled to be played in Lexington.

UK enters the NCAA Tournament with an 18-11 regular-season record. Kentucky’s stint in the 2003 post-season thus far includes a 4-1 victory over 19th-ranked LSU in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals and a loss in the semifinals to second-ranked Florida.

Kentucky has now qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 20 of Coach Dennis Emery’s 21 seasons at the helm of the UK program. In the 2002 tournament, the Cats knocked out Murray State, Vanderbilt and Duke before falling to Tennessee in the quarterfinals. Jesse Witten then completed an incredible run to the NCAA men’s singles championship match before falling to Georgia’s Matias Boeker in two sets.

Witten, the ITA’s ninth-ranked player, will likely earn another shot at the NCAA singles crown when the participants for the NCAA men’s singles championship are announced this Friday, May 2. Witten also stands a chance of being selected with doubles partner Rahim Esmail for the NCAA men’s doubles championships, whose pairings also will be announced Friday.

In other news, the Southeastern Conference announced its selections to the Men’s Tennis Academic Honor Roll, and four Wildcats were among the honorees. Johan Grunditz and Gustav Pousette, a pair of four-year letterwinners who completed their eligibility in 2002, were honored along with senior Elliott Datlow and junior Matt Emery. Grunditz earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and Pousette earned a bachelor’s in foreign language and international economics.