The 16th-ranked Kentucky men?s tennis team captured the doubles point but surrendered four singles matches as No. 52 Auburn (7-7, 2-3) dealt the Cats a 4-3 defeat Friday at Auburn?s Luther Young Tennis Complex. The Cats fall to 11-5 and 3-2 in the SEC.

Junior Tigran Martirosyan and sophomore Nate Emge tallied an easy 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles over Auburn?s Brett Hunter and Nick Lane, and the 15th-ranked tandem of senior Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten scored an 8-6 win at No. 1 over Auburn?s No. 29 duo of Gabor Zoltan Pelva and Alex Schweizer to capture the Kentucky doubles point. After Auburn tied the score at one with at win at No. 2 singles, Martirosyan answered with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Robbert Lathouwers to put Kentucky back on top. Emge set aside Lane by a 6-2, 6-4 count to give the Cats a 3-1 lead.

However, Zoltan Pelva ended Witten?s 11-match unbeaten streak, winning by a 6-4, 6-3 count at No. 1 singles. The Tigers claimed three-set wins at the six and five positions to win the match.

The Cats return to action Sunday at No. 51 Alabama.

No. 52 Auburn 4, No. 16 Kentucky 3

Doubles

 1. No. 15 Witten/Esmail (UK) def. No. 29 Zoltan Pelva/Schweizer (AU) - 8-6 2. Minozzo/Lathouwers (AU) def. Austin/Hume (UK) - 8-6 3. Martirosyan/Emge (UK) def. Hunter/Lane (AU) - 8-1 

Singles 1. Gabor Zoltan Pelva (AU) def. Jesse Witten (UK) – 6-4, 6-3 2. Alex Schweizer (AU) def. Evan Austin (UK) – 6-1, 6-4 3. Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. Robbert Lathouwers (AU) – 6-1, 6-4 4. Nate Emge (UK) def. Nick Lane (AU) – 6-2, 6-4 5. Rodrigo Minozzo (AU) def. Alex Hume (UK) – 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 6. Brett Hunter (AU) def. Rahim Esmail (UK) – 0-6, 6-1, 7-5