No. 16 Kentucky (11-4, 3-1) hits the road for the first time in three weeks Friday for a battle against No. 52 Auburn (6-7, 1-3). The match is set for 3 p.m. EST at Auburn?s Luther Young Tennis Complex.

Kentucky journeys to Auburn on a bit of a hot streak. The Cats are winners of their last five matches. Junior Jesse Witten, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, is unbeaten in his last 11 matches, scoring victories over several highly-ranked opponents along the way. Witten has vaulted to the No. 8 position in the latest ITA men?s singles rankings. Witten and doubles partner Rahim Esmail, who form the ITA?s 16th-ranked doubles pair, have won seven-consecutive matches at No. 1 doubles. Junior Tigran Martirosyan has won six-consecutive matches, and Esmail and sophomore Nate Emge have won their last three matches.

Kentucky dealt Auburn a 4-2 defeat a season ago in Lexington. The Tigers feature the ITA?s 95th-ranked student-athlete, Gabor Zoltan, who teams with Alex Schweizer to form the nation?s 29th-ranked doubles tandem.

UK Coach Dennis Emery could earn his 400th Kentucky win this weekend should the Cats score victories Friday at Auburn and Sunday at Alabama. Now in his 27th year as a head coach, Emery holds a 485-312 overall record and 398-246 record in 22 seasons at Kentucky. Emery coached five seasons at Austin Peay before coming to Kentucky.