March 16, 2007
Montgomery, Ala. - Just a few hours removed from defeating Fresno State, 4-2, in the opening round of the Blue Gray Classic, the No. 37 Auburn men's tennis team dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 7 Notre Dame on Friday evening in Montgomery.
The Tigers (9-4), playing their second match of the day, picked up the lone point at No. 5 singles from Lukas Marsoun. Marsoun defeated Ryan Keckley, 7-6, 6-2. Notre Dame got out to a quick 3-0 start and Auburn looked to rebound off of Marsoun's victory and send the match into doubles, but was unable to pull close enough.
"We got down 3-0 and it looked like we may send the match into doubles after Lukas won but Sheeva on court two played really well today and was able to secure Notre Dame the victory," head coach Eric Shore said. "Robbert hadn't lost all year but we can't expect him to win every match. I feel like we are getting stronger and are able to compete with the best teams in the country."
On court one, Alex Schweizer was unable to fight past 12th-ranked Stephen Bass as Bass took the point, 6-3, 6-4. Robbert Lathouwers entered the match with a flawless singles record but was unable to hold off 57th-ranked Sheeva Parbhu, 7-5, 6-3. The Fighting Irish coasted to straight set victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles over Alexey Tsyrenov and Pawel Dilaj. Court six which featured Auburn's Milan Krnjetin did not finish play in the second set, so no point was awarded.
Auburn will continue play on Saturday at 4 p.m. versus No. 32 Virginia Commonwealth. The matches can be followed in progress at www.bluegraytennis.com.