May 11, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. - For the second year in a row, the Auburn men's tennis team season ended at the hands of the Georgia, as the Tigers fell, 4-0, to the Bulldogs Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Auburn ends the season with an 11-13 record while UGA improves to 23-3. The Bulldogs move on to play the either Pepperdine or Stanford in the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" in Tulsa, Okla. Georgia also knocked the Tigers out of the 2007 NCAA Tournament second round by an identical 4-0 margin.
Despite the 4-0 score, Auburn battled through a tough match on Georgia's home turf, earning a win in a doubles match and taking some singles matches to three sets.
"This was a close match and you have to look inside the match at the two tiebreakers in the first set with Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz in singles and the final doubles going down to it at 8-6," said head coach Eric Shore. "Terence Nugent took his match to three, Pawel Dilaj played two tough sets and Lukas Marsoun really battled in his match. We gave them a battle and you have to look outside of the 4-0 score to see it."
Coming into the match as the underdog, Shore said he was very proud of his team for showing up ready to play against the defending national champion.
"I thought we battled today," said Shore. "We had our chance in doubles and that is what you have to do, you have to put the favorite in a position where they feel you coming. We read about their contest to see who could finish the match first and we took it to heart a little bit and we battled them extremely hard all day.
"They are a good team, I was proud of my guys, proud of our effort yesterday and thought we came back and did a really good job today."
In doubles, UGA earned the first win as Travis Helgeson and Christian Vitulli cruised to an 8-2 win over Marsoun and Milan Krnjetin.
After falling down 3-1 early in the match, Dilaj and Puetz rallied to score seven of the next eight points and take an 8-4 win in No. 2 singles over Luis Flores and Javier Garrapiz, putting the decision of the doubles point on the No. 1 spot.
Tsyrenov and Nugent held the lead early in the match with 17th-ranked Hunt and Schnugg, taking a 3-2 advantage, but the Bulldogs score the next three points, building a lead Auburn would not overcome en route to the 8-6 win and the doubles point.
Vitulli was first off the court in doubles, taking a 6-3, 6-1 win over Krnjetin to give UGA a 2-0 lead. Fourth-ranked Helgeson and No. 38 Hunt then finished almost simultaneously in Nos. 1 and 4 singles to clinch the 4-0 win for the Bulldogs.
Hunt finished first at No. 4, winning 7-5, 6-3 over Dilaj. Helgeson followed with the match-clinching 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over No. 27 Tsyrenov in No. 1 singles.
Three singles matches were still in play when the match concluded. Puetz, ranked 87th in the nation, trailed No. 15 Schnugg, 7-6 (5), 5-4 at No. 2 singles. Marsoun was tied in the second set with No. 59 Flores, 4-4, after taking a 6-3 loss in the first set of No. 3 singles.
In the last of the matches, Terence Nugent trailed No. 121 Garrapiz, 1-6, 6-3, 4-1 in No. 5 singles.
With Saturday's upset of Wake Forest in the first round and his team's performance against defending national champion Georgia in the NCAA Regional final, Shore said he was very proud of his team and excited for next season.
"I thought had a really good effort today, I'm proud of our guys and I'm looking forward to next year," said Shore. "Our seniors, Pawel Dilaj and Terence Nugent, played really well today and they went out on a good note."
Though the team's season is over, Tsyrenov will continue as his No. 27 national ranking earned him one of 64 spots in the NCAA Singles Championship, May 21-26 in Tulsa, Okla.
Tennis Match Results
Auburn vs Georgia
May 11, 2008 at Athens, Ga.
#5 Georgia 4, #35 Auburn 0
Singles competition
1. #4 Travis Helgeson (UGA) def. #27 Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
2. #15 Nate Schnugg (UGA) vs. #87 Tim Puetz (AU) 7-6 (7-5), 5-4, unfinished
3. #59 Luis Flores (UGA) vs. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 6-3, 4-4, unfinished
4. #38 Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU) 7-5, 6-3
5. #121 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) vs. Terence Nugent (AU) 1-6, 6-3, 4-1, unfinished
6. Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Milan Krnjetin (AU) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #17 Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. Alexey Tsyrenov/Terence Nugent (AU) 8-6
2. Tim Puetz/Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Luis Flores/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) 8-4
3. Travis Helgeson/Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Lukas Marsoun/Milan Krnjetin (AU) 8-2
Match Notes:
Auburn 11-13; National ranking #35
Georgia 23-3; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,4,1)
NCAA 2nd Round
Georgia No. 4 Seed
Auburn No. 33-48 Seed
Official: Jim Russell T-3:10 A-348