Lexington, Ky. ? The No. 20 Kentucky men?s tennis team fell 6-1 to No. 13 Ole Miss Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The loss snapped the Cats? eight-match winning streak and dropped their record to 12-4 (5-1 SEC) on the season.
?This was a really tough match to lose today against a team that has become one of our biggest rivals,? head coach Dennis Emery said. ?We played one our of best matches but you have to credit Ole Miss because they came out and showed why they?re the two-time defending SEC champion.?
The match against Ole Miss started off with UK losing the doubles point. The Rebels? No. 15 team of Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson defeated UK?s Alex Hume and Nate Emge 8-5 at the No. 1 spot in the lineup. At the No. 2 spot, UK?s team of Marcus Sundh and Greg Johnstone lost a hard-fought match to the Rebels? Bram ten Berge and Juan Pablo Di Cesare 8-6.
?The doubles point was once again very big in this match,? Emery said. ?We didn?t play poorly at all. Ole Miss just came out and took the matches from us.?
In singles action, the Rebels showed why they are one of the best teams in collegiate tennis winning five of six matches.
At the No. 1 spot in the lineup, No. 46 Hume squared off against Ole Miss? Tveit. Hume won the first set against the nation?s No. 16 player 7-6. The next two sets were both decided in the tiebreaker as well. In each case, Tveit outlasted Hume 7-6.
Senior Carey Rubin also fell in three straight sets to No. 72 Di Cesare 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The loss snapped Rubin?s three-match winning streak.
Kentucky?s lone victory of the day came from Sundh. The Stockholm, Sweden, native extended his season-best winning streak to nine matches by defeating Ole Miss? Robbye Poole 6-3, 6-2. With the victory, Sundh improved his record to 24-9 on the season.
?Ole Miss is an extremely well coached team that has no real weaknesses in its lineup,? Emery said. ?They (Ole Miss) are a tough team to beat but I am pleased with the way we are coming out and starting to defend our homecourts.?
The Cats will return to the courts on Friday when they travel to Athens, Ga., to face No. 1 Georgia. The match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. EST. Fans can check ukathletics.com for live stats a recap following the match.
No. 13 Ole Miss def. No. 20 UK 6-1
Doubles
1.Tveit/Clasesson (UM) def. Hume/Emge (UK) – 8-5
2.ten Berge/DeCesare (UM) def. Johnstone/Sundh (UK) – 8-6
3.suspended
Singles
1.Erling Tveit (UM) def. Alex Hume (UK) – 6-7, 7-6, 7-6
2.Eric Claesson (UM) def. Bruno Agostinelli (UK) – 6-3, 7-5
3.Bram ten Berge (UM) def. Nate Emge (UK) – 6-1, 6-1
4.Juan Pablo Di Cesare (UM) def. Carey Rubin (UK) -7-5, 3-6, 6-3
5.Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Robbye Poole (UM) 6-3, 6-2
6.Jakob Klaeson (UM) def. Greg Johnstone (UK) – 6-2, 6-3
