March 28, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 65 Auburn men's tennis team rattled off five-straight singles victories to come away with the 5-2 win over SEC rival Vanderbilt Sunday at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The win pushed Auburn to 6-9 overall and 2-4 in SEC play, while Vanderbilt dropped to 10-7 and 2-4 in the conference.
"The team did a great job at coming back to win the match," head coach Eric Shore said. "They all played well in doubles and are continuing to improve. I'm proud of how resilient and ready they were to play and compete in singles.
"We're a much better team now than we were at the start of March. The team has to play each match hard and earn more respect as the season goes on."
The two teams proved to be solid competition in doubles play as all three matches were a battle to the very end. Vanderbilt's Alex DiValerio and Vijay Paul picked up a tight 8-6 win over freshmen Tim Hewitt and Lucas Lopasso at No. 3 doubles to start the day.
The eighth-ranked doubles team of Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev evened out the competition as they topped Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, 8-6, at No. 1 doubles. The team point came down to No. 2 doubles and it was a battle. The 74th-ranked team of Ryan Lipman and Bryant Salcedo faced Auburn's Andreas Mies and Michel Monteiro and the Tiger team tied the match up at eight apiece to force a tie break. The Commodores, however, came away with a 7-3 tie break score to win the match 9-8.
Being a down a point going into singles, the Tigers weren't fazed and came out ready to compete. Mies started Auburn's winning ways as he picked up a two-set victory over Baker, 6-2, 6-2. Hewitt gave the Tigers the 2-1 advantage as he defeated Paul in two sets (6-2, 6-3).
Captain and 23rd-ranked singles player Tim Puetz put Auburn up 3-1, topping No. 38 Lipman in two sets (6-1, 6-3) at No. 1 singles. Sealing the victory for the Tigers was Stamchev at No. 3 singles as he defeated Salcedo, 6-1, 6-4.
Also capturing a victory was Lopasso at No. 4 singles. After falling 7-5 in the first set, the freshman battled Zotov to a 6-4 second-set victory and then came away with a 1-0 (7) set-three win.
Competing at No. 6 singles was freshman Oliver Strecker against Vanderbilt's Charlie Jones. The two battled to a 6-6 tie and Jones took the tie break to win 7-6 (4). Jones went on to win the second set by a score of 6-4.
Auburn continues its stay at home, hosting a pair of SEC teams at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center next weekend. The Tigers host Arkansas on April 2, beginning at 5 p.m. Auburn then faces LSU at 1 p.m. on April 4.
Against Vanderbilt
Singles
1. No. 23 Tim Puetz (Auburn) def. No. 38 Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt); 6-1, 6-3
2. Tim Hewitt (Auburn) def. Vijay Paul (Vanderbilt); 6-2, 6-3
3. No. 93 Alex Stamchev (Auburn) vs. Bryant Salcedo (Vanderbilt); 6-1, 6-4
4. Lucas Lopasso (Auburn) def. Alex Zotov (Vanderbilt); 5-7, 6-4, 1-0
5. Andreas Mies (Auburn) def. Adam Baker (Vanderbilt); 6-2, 6-2
6. Charlie Jones (Vanderbilt) def. Oliver Strecker (Auburn); 7-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. No. 8 Puetz/Stamchev (Auburn) def. Baker/Zotov (Vanderbilt); 8-6
2. No. 74 Lipman/Salcedo (Vanderbilt) def. Mies/Monteiro (Auburn); 9-8
3. DiValerio/Paul (Vanderbilt) def. Hewitt/Lopasso (Auburn); 8-6
Match Notes
Vanderbilt - 10-7 (2-4 SEC); National Ranking #23
Auburn - 6-9 (2-4 SEC); National ranking #65
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,2,1,3,4,6)