NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Fourth-seeded Kentucky dropped the doubles point and mounted a formidable singles rally but fell shy of top-seeded Ole Miss in a 4-1 SEC Tournament semifinal loss Saturday at Vanderbilt?s Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center.
Ole Miss claimed the doubles point with victories at the one and three slots. The Rebels? Paul Ciorascu and Claes Lindholm seized control early at No. 1 and defeated Kentucky?s Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten by an 8-2 count. At No. 3, UK?s Nate Emge and Tigran Martirosyan took a 5-1 lead before Ole Miss? Catalin Gard and Karim Alayli won seven-consecutive games to score an 8-5 win. Kentucky?s Evan Austin and Alex Hume held a 5-2 lead at No. 2 before the match was suspended.
Ole Miss increased its lead to 2-0 when Ciorascu claimed a 6-4, 6-3 victory over UK?s Austin. The Kentucky deficit increased to 3-0 when the fourth-ranked Gard defeated the fifth-ranked Witten by a 6-3, 6-4 count.
At the No. 4 slot, UK?s Emge took the first set against the Rebels? Juan Pablo DiCesare only to see DiCesare tie the match with a second-set win. Emge rebounded in the final set, taking four of the last five games to win the match and slice the deficit to 3-1.
The remaining three matches each went to a third set after Kentucky captured the first set in each match. Kentucky?s Hume took Ole Miss?s Eric Claesson to the limit before falling in a 6-4 final set.
Despite the loss, Kentucky remains the only team in the conference to land an SEC Tournament semifinal berth each of the last three seasons.
No. 5 Ole Miss 4, No. 15 Kentucky 1
Doubles 1. Ciorascu/Lindholm (UM) def. Esmail/Witten (UK) ? 8-2 2. Austin/Hume (UK) vs. DiCesare/Claesson (UM) ? 5-2, susp. 3. Alayli/Gard (UM) def. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) ? 8-5
Singles 1. No. 4 Catalin Gard (UM) def. No. 5 Jesse Witten (UK) ? 6-3, 6-4 2. Paul Ciorascu (UM) vs. Evan Austin (UK) ? 6-4, 6-3 3. Claes Lindholm (UM) vs. No. 65 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) ? 6-7, 7-5, 5-3, susp. 4. Nate Emge (UK) def. Juan Pablo DiCesare (UM) ? 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 5. Fredrik Aarum (UM) vs. Rahim Esmail (UK) ? 4-6, 7-5, 3-3, susp. 6. Eric Claesson (UM) vs. Alex Hume (UK) ? 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
