March 25, 2007
Knoxville, Tenn. - The No. 43 Auburn men's tennis team played a tight match with No. 36 Tennessee in Knoxville on Sunday but was unable to capitalize on early leads in singles play, falling 5-2. Auburn moved to 9-7, 2-4 SEC while the Vols improved to 12-4, 2-4 SEC.
"We really battled today from start to finish," head coach Eric Shore said. "Doubles was back-and-forth and we really need to learn how to finish out those close matches. Robbert got a quick win in singles to even the score. We lost a tough match at No. 4 singles and the Vols were able to take the win."
Robbert Lathouwers and Alex Schweizer made quick work of #55 Adam Hubble and Ben Rogers, 8-4, on court one. The next two matches wouldn't be quite as easy as Auburn and Tennessee battled it out on court's two and three. Tennessee ended up victorious on both as Bobby Cameron and Davey Sandgren defeated Terence Nugent and Alexey Tsyrenov, 9-8, on two, and Kaden Hensel and Kiril Tcherveniachki edged out Pawel Dilaj and Lukas Marsoun, 9-7, on three.
Auburn evened the score a 1-1 when #50 Lathouwers cruised past #29 Cameron, 6-3, 6-4, to mark his sixth win over a top-100 player this season. The Vols were able to take the next three matches to secure the team win, beginning on court three. #120 Sandgren defeated Dilaj in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
Tcherveniachki got past Marsoun, 6-1, in the first set but Marsoun would battle it out to a tiebreaker in the second but eventually fell, 7-6, after cramping up late in the set.
Tennessee's Ben Rogers clinched the match for UT with a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-0, 7-5, win on court four over Tsyrenov. Rogers was ahead 5-1 in the third set before Tsyrenov ran ff four straight games to tie the set a five games apiece. Rogers was able to rebound with a 6-0 sweep in the second and a tiebreaker win in the third, 7-5.
Auburn would see its final point on court one as #87 Schweizer took it to three sets with #36 Hensel for the win, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. All eyes turned to court six for the finale, as Auburn and Tennessee were tied 1-1. Chris Racz fought past Nugent in the third set, 6-1, for the win.
Auburn returns home to host South Carolina on March 30 versus at 1:30 p.m.
Singles
1. #87 Alex Schweizer (AU) def. #36 Kaden Hensel (UT), 3-6, 7-6, 6-4
2. #50 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. #29 Bobby Cameron (UT), 6-3, 6-4
3. #120 Davey Sandgren (UT) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU), 6-3, 6-4
4. Ben Rogers (UT) def. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU), 5-7, 6-0, 7-5*
5. Kiril Tcherveniachki (UT) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU), 6-1, 7-6
6. Chris Racz (UT) def. Terence Nugent (AU), 7-6, 2-6, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2,3,5,4,1,6
Doubles
1. Lathouwers/Schwezier (AU) def. #55 Hubble/Rogers (UT), 8-4 2. Cameron/Sandgren (UT) def. Nugent/Tsyrenov (AU), 9-8
3. Hensel/Tcherveniachki (UT) def. Dilaj/Marsoun (AU), 9-7
Order of Finish: 1,2,3