March 2, 2007
Lexington, Ky. - Junior Terence Nugent secured the No. 37 Auburn men's tennis team its seventh win of the season on Friday as the Tigers opened SEC play at No. 38 Kentucky. With the victory, Auburn moved to 7-1 (1-0 SEC) on the season while the Wildcats dropped to 6-5 (0-1 SEC).
After dropping the doubles point, Auburn prevailed in singles play, winning five of six matches. The team outcome was decided at No. 6 singles with Nugent blasting past Kenny Hodge, 7-5, 6-1.
"It was nice to come out in our first conference match of the season and get the win," head coach Eric Shore said. "We played today without Alex [Schweizer] and Kentucky also played without one of their top guys, so it was evened out. We will have to play tougher on Sunday at Vanderbilt if we want to win. We need to play with more intensity from start to finish."
Tiger duo Pawel Dilaj and Terence Nugent picked up their second win this season, defeating Kentucky's Roman Ogarkov and Shane Collins, 8-7 (7-3). The Wildcats No. 1 and No. 2 doubles earned Kentucky the early 1-0 lead. At the No. 2 court, Kentucky's Peter Bjork and Marcus Sundh got past Alexey Tsyrenov and Milan Krnjetin, 8-5. Kentucky secured the point at No. 1 with Bruno Agostinelli and Hodge, who battled past Robbert Lathouwers and Lukas Marsoun, 9-7.
Auburn quickly tied the score with a victory at No. 4 singles. Krnjetin easily got past Ogarkov, 6-2, 6-2. The Wildcats responded with a victory at No. 2 singles as Bjork defeated Tsyrenov, who was playing out of his normal position, 6-4, 6-1. Kentucky would not see another win in singles play as Auburn went on a four match streak.
At No. 1 singles, Lathouwers evened the ledger a 2-2 with a three-set victory over Agostinelli, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Dilaj continued Auburn's streak, cruising past Jorge Jorge, 6-2, 6-0, to take the team lead 3-2. After Nugent posted the win at No. 6 singles, the only remaining action was on court three. Even though Auburn had secured the win, Marsoun did not let up, taking Sundh to three sets and coming out on top, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2).
The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday at #40 Vanderbilt. Match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center in Nashville. Livestats will be available on the Vanderbilt athletics web site at www.commodoresports.com.
SINGLES:
No. 1 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. #73 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 Peter Bjork (UK) def. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)
No. 4 Milan Krnjetin (AU) def. Roman Ogarkov (UK) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Jorge Jorge (UK) 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 Terence Nugent (AU) def. Kenny Hodge (UK) 7-5, 6-1
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 3
DOUBLES
No. 1 Bruno Agostinelli/Kenny Hodge (UK) def. Robbert Lathouwers/Lukas Marsoun (AU) 9-7
No. 2 Peter Bjork/Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Alexey Tsyrenov/Milan Krnjetin (AU) 8-5
No. 3 Pawel Dilaj/Terence Nugent (AU) def. Shane Collins/Roman Ogarkov (UK) 8-7 (7-3)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3