Bulldogs Fall to No. 12 Kentucky in NCAA Championships

May 14, 2005

Butler dropped a 4-0 decision to 12th-seeded Kentucky Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Ky., in the first round of the NCAA Championships, ending the Bulldogs' season at 15-13. Kentucky (21-9), which hosted the NCAA regional and faced Butler in the opening round for the second straight season, advances to Sunday's Round of 32 match against No. 18 Florida State.

Kentucky secured the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 3 spots. The Wildcats used an explosive return game to put pressure on the Bulldogs' serves. Kentucky's Jesse Witten and Tigran Martirosyan, the sixth-ranked duo in the country, topped Butler's No. 1 team of Andy Bartish and James Low, 8-2. The Wildcats' Nate Emge and Alex Hume topped Butler's senior squad of Mike Weaver and Adam Bordow, 8-1, at the No. 3 spot.

Butler put up a fight at the top three singles spots. Low fought back from a break down in the first set against the third-ranked Witten to tie the match at 4-4 before Witten broke back and then served out the first set. He went on to take the second set and the match, 6-0.

On the second court, Bartish used an early break to jump out to a 3-0 lead against UK's Hume. Hume broke back and was able to fend off a set point from Bartish when the Butler junior held a 5-4 lead in the opening set. The duo held serve to set up a tiebreaker, which Hume captured, 7-0. He went on to take the clinching match with a 6-1 decision in the second set.

At No. 3, Butler's Parker Ross won the first set 6-3 against Emge before the Wildcat player rebounded for a 6-1 second-set decision. Ross led 2-1 in the third set when the match was stopped.

Martirosyan was the first Kentucky player to win his singles match, knocking off Evan West, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4 singles. Neither of the No. 5 and 6 singles matches got out of the first set before Kentucky clinched the match with three singles wins.

The Bulldogs return a solid core group for the 2005-06 season, including the top four singles seeds from this season. Coach Jason Suscha and the Bulldogs, who have won four straight Horizon League titles and seven of the last eight championships, also welcome back Brandon Gill and Scott Newmark next season after both missed the 2005 season due to injury.

Story Provided by John Dedman, Butler Sports Information