Seniors Tigran Martirosyan and Jesse Witten and junior Nate Emge each have landed preseason singles rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

Witten, a 2002 NCAA singles runner-up from Naples, Fla., enters the fall season with the No. 3 men?s singles ranking after a strong junior season and a solid summer. After ending the spring with a No. 7 ITA ranking, Witten went on a tear on the USTA Circuit, where he competed as an amateur as a member of the USA Tennis Collegiate Team. Witten won a USTA futures event in Joplin, Mo., and finished as the runner-up at the Peoria, Ill., futures event and the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships at UK?s Boone Tennis Complex. The No. 3 ranking is his highest rank since he captured the No. 1 overall ranking in the fall of 2002.

Martirosyan, a senior from Yerevan, Armenia, was a pleasant surprise in 2004 after transferring from Loyola Marymount. Martirosyan made the All-SEC second team after compiling a 32-10 singles record, including an 8-3 mark in conference play. He enters the fall with a No. 53 singles ranking.

Emge also made a splash as a transfer after coming to Lexington from Penn State. The Evansville, Ind., native finished the 2004 campaign with a 25-13 record and spent several weeks in the ITA rankings a season ago. Emge begins the fall ranked No. 119.

Kentucky commences the 2004-05 season next weekend at the Southern Intercollegiates in Athens, Ga. and the Kentucky Fall Invitational in Lexington.