Men's Tennis Falls to No. 10 Kentucky 6-1

Thursday, January 29

Lexington, Ky.

5:00 PM

University of Louisville

Kentucky

January 29, 2004 | Men's Tennis

Jan. 29, 2004

LEXINGTON, Ky. - - The University of Louisville men's tennis team fell to tenth-ranked Kentucky 6-1 Thursday at Kentucky's Hillary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

The Wildcats claimed the doubles point as the team of Rashim Esmail and Jesse Witten defeated Jhonny Berrido and Octavian Nicodim 8-4 at the top seed. Louisville's Matt Mayer and Jeremy Clark evened the doubles score with a 9-8 win over Evan Austin and Alex Hume at No. 3 before Kentucky's Tigran Martirosyan and Nate Emge clinched the point with a 8-6 decision over Damar Johnson and Jakob Gustafsson at the two-spot.

In singles action, Kentucky's Witten, No. 16 in the ITA singles rankings, defeated Berrido 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1. Austin topped Nicodim 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2., while Mayer took Emge to three sets before falling 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 at the four-seed. Esmail beat Gustafsson 6-2, 6-4 at the five-spot and Hume defeated Clark 6-2, 7-6 at No. 6 to close the match.

Johnson posted the Cardinals' only singles point with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over #58 Martirosyan at No. 3.

"We are in a very tough part of our schedule for this young team," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma "We are coming off of road matches at third-ranked and No. 10 Kentucky and now we have to go on the road to play Michigan State. Hopefully this will make us a stronger team and prepare us for the rest of the season."

The Cardinals (3-2) will travel to Michigan State to face the Spartans Sunday, Jan. 31.

Louisville men's tennis results vs. Kentucky 1/29/04
Singles1 - #16 Jesse Witten (UK) d. Jhonny Berrido 6-0, 6-02 - #81 Evan Austin (UK) d. Octavian Nicodim 6-4, 6-23 - Damar Johnson (UL) d. #58 Tigran Martirosyan (UK) 1-6, 6-3, 7-64 - Nate Emge (UK) d. Matt Mayer (UL) 7-5, 5-7, 6-35 - Rahim Esmail (UK) d. Jakob Gustafsson (UL) 6-2, 6-46 - Alex Hume (UK) d. Jeremy Clark (UL) 6-2, 7-6Doubles1 - Esmail/Witten (UK) d. Berrido/Nicodim (UL) 8-42 - Martirosyan/Emge (UK) d. Johnson/Gustafsson (UL) 8-63 - Mayer/Clark (UL) d. Austin/Hume (UK) 9-8 (2)