LEXINGTON, Ky.?Sophomore Shane Collins? win at number six singles propelled No. 38 Kentucky to an upset victory over No. 26 Alabama today at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

Kentucky (7-5, 1-1) used four wins in singles action to carry them to their first victory in Southeastern Conference play. Collins opened his match at No. 6 knowing that the match point would come down to his match versus Dan Buikema. He dropped the first set 7-6 (9-7) making it a tough climb back to win.

?I started out a little bit nervous,? said Collins. ?Once I started hitting some serves it gave me confidence.?

In the second set, Collins fired back with a convincing 6-4 win to force the match into a deciding third set. He opened play with a 3-2 lead, but Buikema fought back to knot the score at 3-3. Collins then used his powerful serve to get back ahead. He finished the match, and the win for Kentucky with a 6-4 victory in the third set.

?This is the best match I?ve ever seen Shane play,? said Coach Dennis Emery. ?He played aggressively enough to not allow the other player back in the match. I really thought that was the key to the match.?

The visiting Crimson Tide opened the match taking the doubles point. Sophomores Bruno Agostinelli and Kenny Hodge hung tough with the No. 35 doubles tandem of Mathieu Thibaudeau and Dan Buikema, before falling 9-7. Alabama opened doubles play with a win at No. 3, and clinched the point by winning at No. 1.

?Alabama is a really good team,? said Emery. ?They are great in doubles and very solid one through six in singles. I thought we won the match today; they didn?t hand it to us. Our team showed a lot of growth in this win today.?

Kentucky?s top three singles players propelled the home standing team to a 3-2 advantage. After Alabama took a 2-0 lead, junior Marcus Sundh, Agostinelli and senior Peter Bjork all rattled off wins almost simultaneously.

Sundh led off with a straight set win over Billy Mertz, 6-3, 6-4. No. 72 Agostinelli followed with a two-set victory over No. 56 Joseph Jung, 6-2, 7-5. Then Bjork extended his winning streak to eight matches as he handedly defeated Sammy Struyf, 6-1, 6-3, to bring the home crowd to a standing ovation.

After Alabama earned a win at No. 5 singles, when Thibaudeau defeated Hodge, 6-1, 7-5, the score evened at 3-3, leaving the deciding point up to No. 6 singles.

Kentucky next returns to action on Friday when they travel to LSU.

#38 Kentucky 4, #26 Alabama 3

SINGLES:

No. 1 #73 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. #56 Joseph Jung (UA) 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 Peter Bjork (UK) def. Sammy Struyf (UA) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Billy Mertz (UA) 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 Javier Bes (UA) def. Roman Ogarkov (UK) 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Kenny Hodge (UK) 6-1, 7-5
No. 6 Shane Collins (UK) def. Dan Buikema (UA) 6-7 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 3, 1, 2, 5, 6

DOUBLES

No. 1 #35 Dan Buikema/Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Bruno Agostinelli/Kenny Hodge (UK) 9-7
No. 2 Joseph Jung/Saketh Myneni (UA) def. Peter Bjork/Marcus Sundh (UK) 4-6, default
No. 3 Billy Mertz/Javier Bes (UA) def. Shane Collins/Roman Ogarkov (UK) 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2