March 23, 2007
Athens, Ga. - The 43rd-ranked Auburn men's tennis team had its opportunity to dethrone top-ranked Georgia but was unable to clinch pivotal third sets in singles play. Auburn fell, 6-1, to Georgia to move to 9-6, 2-3 SEC on the year. Georgia improved to 16-0, 5-0 SEC.
"We had our chances today," head coach Eric Shore said. "The doubles point came down to our No. 2 pair and they were just edged out. We got off to a bad start in singles but fought our way back and we right in the thick of things. We lost three three-set matches but we will take positives away from today and regroup for Tennessee on Sunday."
Georgia's top-ranked doubles duo of Luis Flores and John Asner got past Auburn's Robbert Lathouwers and Alex Schweizer on court one, 8-5. The Tigers rebounded with a win on court three after Pawel Dilaj and Lukas Marsoun defeated Jamie Hunt and Nate Schungg, 8-6. The doubles point was up for grabs and all eyes turned to court two. After a hard fought set, tenth-ranked Travis Helgeson and Matic Omerzel came out ahead, 9-7, over Terence Nugent and Alexey Tsyrenov.
Auburn struggled in the first set of singles play on each court, but was able to rebound and take three of the six to three sets. Ninth-ranked Flores made quick work of Dilaj, 6-2, 6-1 on court three to put Georgia up 2-0. Top-ranked Isner battled it out with Schweizer on court one, 6-2, 7-5, and No. 79 Schnugg edged out Milan Krnjetin, 7-6, 6-4, on court. Up 4-0, the Tigers responded by sending the final three into third sets.
Marsoun took the second set from No. 31 Omerzel before Omerzel finished it off in the third, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. The final two singles matches on court two and six were taken into tiebreakers in the third. No. 50 Lathouwers nearly got past No. 11 Helgeson, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, as did Nugent against No. 86 Hunt, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.
Auburn returns to action in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday when the Tigers face 36th-ranked Tennessee at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available on the Tennessee web site.
Singles
1. #1 John Isner (UGA) def. #87 Alex Schweizer (AU), 6-2, 7-5
2. #11 Travis Helgeson (UGA) def. #50 Robbert Lathouwers (AU), 6-1, 3-6, 7-5
3. #9 Luis Flores (UGA) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU), 6-2, 6-1
4. Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. #31 Matic Omerzel (UGA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
5. #79 Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. Milan Krnjetin (AU), 7-6, 6-4
6. #86 Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Terence Nugent (AU), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 4, 5, 2, 6
Doubles
1. #1 Flores/Isner (UGA) def. Lathouwers/Schweizer (AU), 8-5
2. #10 Helgeson/Omerzel (UGA) deg. Nugent/Tsyrenov (AU), 9-7
3. Dilaj/Marsoun (AU) def. Hunt/Schnugg (UGA), 8-6
Order of Finish: 1,3,2