LEXINGTON ? No. 11 Kentucky (21-9) opened the 2005 NCAA men?s tennis regional in dominant fashion, defeating Horizon League champion Butler (15-3) by a 4-0 count Saturday at UK?s Boone Indoor Tennis Center. The win sets up a regional-final meeting with Florida State, a 4-0 winner over Ball State in the day?s first regional match. The Cats and Seminoles will do battle Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT in Lexington.
Kentucky seized control of the match immediately in doubles play. UK?s Nate Emge and Alex Hume tallied an 8-1 victory at the third doubles spot before Kentucky?s Tigran Martirosyan and Jesse Witten scored an 8-2 win at the first position to clinch the doubles point.
Kentucky did not let up in the singles competition. Martirosyan completed a solid day?s work with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Butler?s Evan West at the fourth singles position. Witten held off Butler?s James Low in the first set at No. 1 singles and cruised the rest of the way to give Kentucky a 3-0 lead. Hume trailed 6-5 in the first set at No. 2 against Andy Bartish but evened the set to force the tiebreaker, which he claimed without surrendering a point. Hume easily captured the second set, 6-1, to clinch the Kentucky victory.
Kentucky improves to 10-16 in NCAA tournament play. UK coach Dennis Emery will take on a prot?g? in Sunday?s match in the form of FSU coach Dwayne Hultquist, who served as a graduate assistant under Emery at Kentucky during the 1991 season.
NCAA Regional ? Lexington, Ky. (First Round)
No. 12 Kentucky 4, Butler 0
Doubles
1. No. 6 Martirosyan/Witten (UK) def. Bartish/Low (BU) – 8-2
2. Emery/Sundh (UK) vs. Aker/Ross (BU) – DNF
3. Emge/Hume (UK) def. Bordow/Weaver (BU) – 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 1
Singles – Order of finish: 4, 1, 2
1. No. 3 Jesse Witten (UK) def. James Low (BU) – 6-4, 6-0
2. Alex Hume (UK) def. Andy Bartish (BU) – 7-6(0), 6-1
3. Nate Emge (UK) vs. Parker Ross (BU) – DNF
4. Tigran Martirosyan (UK) def. Evan West (BU) – 6-1, 6-2
5. Matt Emery (UK) vs. Mike Weaver (BU) – DNF
6. Marcus Sundh (UK) vs. Tony Aker (BU) – DNF
No. 18 Florida State 4, No. 75 Ball State 0
Doubles
1. Westernhof/Groslimond (FSU) def. Laramore/Epkey (BSU) – 8-3
2. Abougzir/Cloer (FSU) vs. Newman/Knable (BSU) – DNF
3. Sucupira/Webb (FSU) def. Thompson/Polhamus (BSU) – 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3
Singles
1. Matt Laramore (BSU) vs. No. 26 Mat Cloer (FSU) – DNF
2. Ytai Abougzir (FSU) def. Tony Epkey (BSU) – 6-3, 6-1
3. Jeff Groslimond (FSU) def. Paul Newman (BSU) – 6-3, 7-5
4. Chris Westerhof (FSU) def. Klint Knable (BSU) – 6-4, 6-2
5. Patrick Thompson (BSU) vs. Jonathas Sucupira (FSU) – DNF
6. Mike Heule (BSU) vs. Chip Webb (FSU) – DNF
