LEXINGTON, Ky. ? No. 16 Kentucky took one step toward an SEC regular-season title with the doubles point but took a few fatal steps backward in singles play, as No. 6 Ole Miss came from behind for a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon at UK?s Boone Tennis Complex. A Kentucky win would have given the Cats a share of the SEC regular-season title along with Ole Miss, but instead, the Rebels will take the title outright.

Ole Miss claimed their lone doubles win at No. 3 when Karim Alayli and Juan Pablo DiCesare earned an 8-4 victory over Kentucky?s Evan Austin and Alex Hume. UK?s Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten evened the doubles tally with an 8-5 victory at No. 1 over Eric Claesson and Claes Lindholm. Kentucky?s Evan Austin and Alex Hume built a 7-4 lead at No. 2 before Paul Ciorascu and Catalin Gard broke back to tie the match at seven. Kentucky regained the lead and Ole Miss struck back to force a tiebreaker, where the Cats prevailed to take a 1-0 lead.

Ciorascu quickly tied the score at one with a straight-set victory at No. 3 singles over UK?s Austin. Kentucky?s Martirosyan took the first set against the Rebels? Lindholm and forced a tiebreaker in the second, where he ran away with the victory to give Kentucky a 2-1 lead.

Ole Miss? Fredrik Aarum began a match-clinching stretch of three-set victories for the Rebels. Kentucky?s Esmail forced a third set after dropping the first at No. 5, but Aarum rebounded with a 6-2 final set to even the score at two. Kentucky?s Emge won his first set at No. 4, but the Rebels? DiCesare took the final two sets to give the Rebels the lead, for good.

At No. 5, UK?s Hume fell behind 5-3 in the third set to Ole Miss? Claesson but broke back to even the set. At match point for Ole Miss, UK?s Hume sent a return behind Claesson that appeared to be in bounds just inside the service line. However, Claesson called the ball out of bounds and the official concurred, giving the Rebels the match and SEC title-clinching point. Ole Miss? fourth-ranked Gard added a win over UK?s Witten in a third-set tiebreaker for the final 5-2 margin.

Kentucky finishes the regular season at 17-8 and 7-4 in the conference. The Cats earned a first-round bye in this week?s SEC Tournament in Nashville and will play Friday at 8 a.m. CDT against the winner of Thursday?s match between fifth-seeded LSU and 12th-seeded Alabama.

No. 5 Ole Miss 5, No. 16 Kentucky 2

 Doubles 1. Esmail/Witten (UK) def. Claesson/Lindholm (UM) ? 8-5 2. Austin/Hume (UK) def. Ciorascu/Gard (UM) ? 9-8 3. Alayli/DiCesare (UM) def. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) ? 8-4 

Singles 1. No. 4 Catalin Gard (UM) def. No. 8 Jesse Witten (UK) ? 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) 2. No. 103 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. No. 28 Claes Lindholm (UM) ? 6-3, 7-6 3. No. 28 Paul Ciorascu (UM) def. Evan Austin (UK) ? 6-0, 6-3 4. Juan Pablo DiCesare (UM) def. Nate Emge (UK) ? 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 5. Fredrik Aarum (UM) def. Rahim Esmail (UK) ? 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 6. Eric Claesson (UM) def. Alex Hume (UK) ? 3-6, 6-1, 7-5