No. 16 TCU claimed the doubles point and fought off a vigorous Kentucky singles rally to capture the NCAA Men?s Tennis Regional by a 4-2 count Sunday at UK?s Boone Tennis Complex. Kentucky?s NCAA run ends in the round of 32 for the second time in as many seasons. The Horned Frogs advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 later this week in Tulsa, Okla.
Kentucky senior Rahim Esmail and Jesse Witten scored the lone Wildcat doubles win at No. 1 with an 8-5 defeat of Rafael Abreu and Fabrizio Sestini. At the No. 3 position, UK?s Nate Emge and Tigran Martirosyan engaged in a lengthy battle with TCU?s Jacob Martin and Alex Menichini. UK took a 6-3 lead before TCU broke back to tie at six. Kentucky and TCU each held serve and entered a tiebreaker, where the Horned Frogs emerged with the victory. Only a few minutes thereafter, TCU?s Hector Almada and Jacopo Tezza broke away from a 7-7 tie for a 9-7 win to clinch the doubles point.
TCU?s Almada doubled the Horned Frog lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win at second singles over UK?s Austin. At No. 5, UK?s Esmail took a one-set lead and trailed 4-2 in the second set before taking five of the next six games to slice the TCU lead in half. Kentucky?s Witten dropped his first set to TCU?s Menichini but rebounded for a pair of 6-2 set victories to even the tally at two.
TCU?s Sestini captured the first set at No. 3 against UK?s Martirosyan and trailed 4-2 before breaking even in the second set. Martirosyan took a 4-1 lead in the ensuing tiebreaker, but Sestini claimed the final six points to clinch the match and regain the Frog lead. Kentucky?s Hume answered a first-set loss at No. 6 with a strong 6-2 second-set showing. Hume sustained a long battle in the final set before finally surrendering to TCU?s Martin, 7-5. With the outcome in hand, the remaining No. 4 singles match was suspended.
Kentucky finishes with a 19-10 overall record. Jesse Witten begins NCAA singles competition and Rahim Esmail joins him for NCAA doubles play on May 26 at the University of Tulsa.
No. 16 TCU 4, No. 11 Kentucky 2 Doubles 1. Esmail/Witten (UK) def. Abreu/Sestini (TCU) ? 8-5 2. Almada/Tezza (TCU) def. Austin/Hume (UK) ? 9-7 3. Martin/Menichini (TCU) def. Emge/Martirosyan (UK) ? 9-8(3)
Singles 1. Jesse Witten (UK) def. Alex Menichini (TCU) ? 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 2. Hector Almada (TCU) def. Evan Austin (UK) ? 6-3, 6-1 3. Fabrizio Sestini (TCU) def. Tigran Martirosyan (UK) ? 6-3, 7-6(4) 4. Jacopo Tezza (TCU) vs. Nate Emge (UK) ? 7-6(5), 5-4 susp. 5. Rahim Esmail (UK) def. Rafael Abreu (TCU) ? 6-2, 7-5 6. Jacob Martin (TCU) def. Alex Hume (UK) ? 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
