March 30, 2007
AUBURN - The No. 44 Auburn men's tennis team dismissed No. 58 South Carolina, 5-2, on a warm Friday afternoon at the Auburn Intramural Courts. The Tigers rebounded after losing the doubles point to win the next five singles matches and secure the victory, which moves the team to 10-7 overall and 3-4 in SEC play.
Senior Alex Schweizer clinched the win for Auburn with a spirited 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over South Carolina's Yevgeny Supeko in the No. 1 spot.
"That was a gut-check match for Alex," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. "He had a chance to break towards the end of the second set and he didn't, and he got pretty frustrated. He battled through it and showed some guts, and that's what you expect from a senior."
The match kicked off with South Carolina's Ivan Cressoni and Pedro Rodrigues defeating Pawel Dilaj and Lukas Marsoun, 8-4, in the No. 3 doubles spot. Auburn evened the doubles contest when its No. 2 team of Alexey Tsyrenov and Terence Nugent dropped Thomas Stoddard and Joseph Veeder of South Carolina, 8-3. The No. 1 doubles match was the last to finish as Yevgeny Supeko and Pedro Campos locked up the point with a 9-7 win over Schweizer and Robbert Lathouwers.
Playing in the No. 2 singles spot, Lathouwers made quick and easy work of Rodrigues, 6-2, 6-4, to win his contest and even the match at one apiece. Shortly thereafter, Cressoni fell victim to Marsoun, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 4 match, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Tsyrenov then defeated David Wolff, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the No. 5 contest to give Auburn a 3-1 lead and put the weight of the match on Schweizer's shoulders.
"We battled in doubles, but couldn't get it to go our way," Shore said. "We came out in those first few singles matches and got it done, though. There are no easy matches in the Southeastern Conference."
After Schweizer finished Supeko, Auburn's No. 6 player, Milan Krnjetin, defeated Spencer Feldman in another hotly contested match, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
The Gamecocks did manage to get one singles win for the road as Campos outlasted Dilaj, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the No. 3 spot to conclude play for the day.
The Tigers will return to the intramural courts for a showdown with No. 15 Florida on Sunday, April 1st at 1 p.m. CT. Admission is free, and live results will be available at www.auburntigers.com.
Singles
1. #87 Alex Schweizer (AU) def. Yevgeny Supeko (SC) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
2. #50 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. Pedro Rodrigues (SC) 6-2, 6-4
3. Pedro Campos (SC) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
4. Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. Ivan Cressoni (SC) 6-3, 6-2
5. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. David Wolff (SC) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
6. Milan Krnjetin (AU) def. Spencer Feldman (SC) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Doubles
1. Yevgeny Supeko/Pedro Campos (SC) def. Alex Schweizer/Robbert Lathouwers (AU) 9-7
2. Alexey Tsyrenov/Terence Nugent (AU) def. Thomas Stoddard/Joseph Veeder (SC) 8-3
3. Ivan Cressoni/Pedro Rodrigues (SC) def. Pawel Dilaj/Lukas Marsoun (AU) 8-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,5,1,6,3)