May 13, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. - The 44th-ranked Auburn men's tennis team dropped its first round match in the NCAA Tournament Saturday to No. 17 Florida State, 4-2, at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
Auburn, the third seed for the regional held at Ole Miss, dropped out of the tournament with the loss and ended the season 14-11. Florida State, the regional's No. 2 seed, improved to 18-11 on the year. The Seminoles advance to play top-seeded Ole Miss on Sunday, which defeated Belmont, 4-0, in the match preceding the Tigers and Seminoles.
"Today's match was kind of like our season," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. "We were serving for doubles at 7-4 and couldn't get it done. We couldn't close the deal. But we fought hard today.
"The positive thing is that we're young and had three players come in January. We have something to build on for next year."
Playing doubles together for only the second time this season, Tigers Nick Lane and Alex Schweizer made quick work of Florida State's Sam Chang and Jonathas Sucupira, taking the win 8-3. Chang and Sucupira moved to 8-10 on the season when playing as a pair. The Tigers needed only one more doubles win to clinch the point. The No. 1 singles duo of Robbert Lathouwers and Lukas Marsoun were the next to finish as the team was defeated by 11th-ranked Seminoles' Ytai Abougzir and Chris Westerhof, 8-5.
The doubles point was decided on court three as AU's Pawel Dilaj and Terence Nugent battled it out with FSU's Andrew Bailey and Maciek Sykut. Florida State's duo defeated Dilaj and Nugent, 9-7, giving the Seminoles the doubles point.
Auburn went on to win both of its points in singles play. Alex Schweizer started off the Tigers' scoring with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at the No. 1 position over Abougzir. Schweizer played each of his singles matches at No. 1 this season and ended the year 7-4.
Auburn took its second point of the match from Lathouwers, who defeated FSU's Sucupira, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. Lathouwers, playing in the No. 2 slot, improved to 14-9 in singles play this season. He finished the season 9-6 at No. 2.
Florida State took the first, third and fifth singles matches to finish, giving the Seminoles the win. Westerhof defeated Auburn's Lukas Marsoun, 6-2, 6-1 for FSU's first victory. Maciek Sykut, in the No. 4 slot, defeated Milan Krnjetin, 6-4, 6-1, to give the Seminoles their second singles point and third overall.
Dilaj took Florida State's Chris Cloer to three sets before falling, 6-4, in the third. Cloer took the early lead after a 6-4 set one win, then saw Dilaj battle back for a 6-4 set two win. Chang and Auburn's Nick Lane, facing off at No. 3, had their match suspended as Florida State took its victory. Chang was leading 5-4 in the third set after the duo split the first two sets.
DOUBLES
#1 Abougzir/Westerhof (FSU) def. Lathouwers/Marsoun (AU) 8-5
#2 Schweizer/Lane (AU) def. Chang/Sucupira (FSU) 8-3
#3 Bailey/Sykut (FSU) def. Dilaj-Nugent (AU) 9-7
SINGLES
#1 Alex Schweizer (AU) def. Ytai Abougzir (FSU) 6-4, 7-5
#2 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. Jonathas Sucupira (FSU) 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
#3 Sam Chang (FSU) vs. Nick Lane (AU) 6-4, 3-6, 5-4, sus.
#4 Maciek Sykut (FSU) def. Milan Krnjetin (AU) 6-4, 6-1
#5 Chris Westerhof (FSU) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 6-2, 6-1
#6 Chris Cloer (FSU) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4