LEXINGTON, Ky. ? No. 18 Kentucky claimed four-consecutive singles matches after dropping the doubles point to defeat No. 24 Arkansas by a 4-3 count Sunday at UK?s Boone Indoor Tennis Center. The Cats have won four consecutive matches and improve to 10-4 and 3-1 in the SEC, while Arkansas drops to 10-4 and 1-3.

Arkansas claimed doubles wins at the three and two positions, respectively, to take an early 1-0 lead. Kentucky junior Tigran Martirosyan evened the tally at one with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles over the Hogs? Matt Simpson. Junior Jesse Witten turned in his 10th-consecutive victory at No. 1 singles, defeating the ITA?s eighth-ranked student-athlete, Adrians Zguns, also by a 6-4, 6-4 count to put the Cats on top, 2-1. Sophomore Nate Emge, a Penn State transfer, increased the Kentucky margin at No. 4 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Arkansas? Rohan Gajjar.

Senior Rahim Esmail clinched Kentucky?s third conference victory with a quick 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Matt Roberts. Senior Evan Austin nearly scored a major victory over Arkansas? 54th-ranked Nathan Price but fell just shy in the third-set tiebreaker.

The Cats will take a break from conference play this Wednesday when the Cats play host to Butler. The match is set for a 6 p.m. EST start at UK?s Boone Tennis Complex.

No. 18 Kentucky 4, No. 24 Arkansas 3

 Doubles 1. Esmail/Witten (UK) def. Price/Simpson (UA) ? 8-4 2. Ismail/Roberts (UA) def. Austin/Hume (UK) ? 8-4 3. Gajjar/Zguns (UA) def. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) ? 8-3 

Singles 1. No. 15 Jesse Witten (UK) def. No. 8 Adrians Zguns (UA) ? 6-4, 6-4 2. No. 54 Nathan Price (UA) def. Evan Austin (UK) ? 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) 3. No. 74 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. Matt Simpson (UA) ? 6-4, 6-4 4. Nate Emge (UK) def. Rohan Gajjar (UA) ? 7-5, 6-4 5. Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Matt Roberts (UA) ? 6-1, 6-1 6. Imraan Ismail (UA) def. Jason Mallaiah (UK) ? 6-2, 6-4