March 18, 2006
Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn men's tennis team took their sixth consecutive win over the UAB Blazers 5-2, Saturday, at the Luther Young Tennis Complex.
"I have to give UAB credit," said AU head coach Eric Shore, "they played well in doubles and then they matched us in singles. They have four seniors and we knew it would be a battle."
The Tigers and the Blazers battled down to every last point, but in the end the Tigers swept doubles and prevailed in four singles matches.
In the No. 2 doubles spot, Robbert Lathouwers and partner Lukas Marsoun trailed for the first few points of the set, but retaliated with vigor to defeat Sebastian Falk and Andre Maier, 8-6.
Switching up from the usual line-up, Alex Schweizer and Milan Krnjetin played along side each other for the first time. The pair played a tight match, but prevailed 8-6 and clenched the doubles point for the Tigers.
Closing out doubles, Nick Lane and Pawel Dilaj played another close match, coming to a tie at 7, but the Tigers came out on top, defeating Johannes Spagenburg and Thomas Weiss 8-7.
Winning the first singles match in the one-spot for the Tigers was Schweizer, easily defeating Mavrin 6-1, 6-2. Lathouwers followed with a loss to Falk 6-2, 6-0. Following, Marsoun defeated Kruno Desptovski 6-4, 6-3. Dilaj finished fifth with a loss 6-4, 6-2, to Spagenburg.
After the loss to Spagenburg, AU and UAB stood at 3-2, with courts two and four battling into third sets. Lane won his first set, but fell to Kristijan Mitrovski in the second. However, Lane came back strong and won 6-3 in the third set, clenching the win for the Tigers.
"Nick got broken in that second set, but he broke back and delivered for us," Shore said. "I think the tough matches that we have played recently really paid off for us tonight."
In the four-spot, freshman Krnjetin faced Maier into a third set. Krnjetin dropped the first 6-4 (5), but fought back in the second and third to close out the match 6-3, 6-3.
"We showed a lot of maturity and we are playing better tennis," Shore said.
The Tigers will be back in action next Friday, March 24, to face the number one team in the nation, Georgia, at 4 p.m., followed by Tennessee on Sunday.
#50 Auburn 5, vs. UAB 2
Doubles
1. Schweizer/ Krnjetin def. (AU) Mavrin/Mitrovski (UAB) 8-5
2. Lathouwers/Marsoun (AU) def. Falk/Maier (UAB) 8-6
3. Lane/Dilaj (AU) def. Spagenberg/Weiss (UAB) 8-7
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. Alex Schweizer (AU) def. Anton Mavrin (UAB) 6-1, 6-2
2. Nick Lane (AU) def. Kristijan Mitrovski (UAB) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
3. Sebastian Falk (UAB) def. Robbert Lathouwers (AU) 6-2, 6-0
4. Milan Krnjetin (AU) def. Andre Maier (UAB) 5-6 (5), 6-3, 6-3
5. Johannes Spagenberg (UAB) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. Kruno Despotovski (UAB) 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 2, 6, 5, 2, 4