LEXINGTON, Ky. ? No. 17 Kentucky overcame a 1-0 deficit with strong singles play, defeating No. 22 Vanderbilt by a 4-3 count Saturday afternoon at the Boone Tennis Complex. The Cats keep themselves in contention for the SEC regular-season title and improve to 16-7 and 6-3 in the SEC, while Vanderbilt falls to 13-9 and 5-5 in the conference.

The Cats started off on a positive note when Nate Emge and Tigran Martirosyan emerged from the No. 3 doubles slot with an 8-4 win over Matt Lockin and Greg Sossaman. However, the Commodores claimed victories at the remaining two slots to take a 1-0 lead.

UK senior Rahim Esmail evened the tally at one when he earned his third-consecutive victory, a 6-2, 6-2 decision over VU?s Lewis Smith. Junior Jesse Witten, fresh off of a dominant performance over Illinois? second-ranked Brian Wilson, was outstanding once again, dusting off Vandy?s 24th-ranked Chad Harris by a 6-1, 6-0 count and improving his dual-match record to 19-2. Sophomore Alex Hume scored his second win in as many outings, extending the Kentucky lead to 3-1 with an easy victory over Vanderbilt?s Nathan Sachs. Martirosyan, after winning his first set, fell behind 5-4 in the second set. Rather than allow his match to continue to an extra set, Martirosyan took the next three games to clinch the match and seal the Wildcat victory. Vanderbilt claimed victories at the remaining two singles positions for the final 4-3 margin.

The Cats will take the remainder of the weekend off and prepare for one final regular-season weekend. Kentucky welcomes Mississippi State next Friday, Apr. 16 before playing host to No. 6 Ole Miss two days later on Senior Day.

No. 17 Kentucky 4, No. 22 Vanderbilt 3

 Doubles 1. No. 46 Brown/Harris (VU) def. No. 14 Esmail/Witten (UK) ? 8-5 2. Dailey/Smith (VU) def. Austin/Hume (UK) ? 8-3 3. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) def. Lockin/Sossaman (VU) ? 8-4 

Singles 1. No. 8 Jesse Witten (UK) def. No. 24 Chad Harris (VU) ? 6-1, 6-0 2. No. 65 Scott Brown (VU) def. Evan Austin (UK) ? 6-3, 6-4 3. No. 103 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. No. 64 Matt Lockin (VU) ? 6-2, 7-5 4. No. 76 Zach Dailey (VU) def. Nate Emge (UK) ? 7-5, def. 5. Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Lewis Smith (VU) ? 6-2, 6-2 6. Alex Hume (UK) def. Nathan Sachs (VU) ? 6-3, 6-0