April 4, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - The nationally-ranked Auburn men's tennis team recorded its third-straight SEC win, defeating the No. 46 LSU Tigers 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The win pushes the No. 45 Tigers to 8-9 overall and 4-4 in the conference, while LSU is now 5-12 and 2-6 in the SEC. With a loss by Ole Miss today, Auburn and Ole Miss are now tied for first in the SEC West with three conference matches left in the regular season.
"It was a great effort by the team today," head coach Eric Shore said. "We asked this group of guys to step up in their last home match and today, they played the best they have all season."
LSU began competition with a victory at No. 2 doubles as Mark Bowtell and Stefan Szacinski defeated Tim Hewitt and Lucas Lopasso, 8-2. Auburn, however, followed with a win at No. 1 doubles to put pressure on LSU for the doubles team point. Tenth-ranked Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev came away with an 8-2 win over Sebastion Carlsson and Neal Skupski.
The doubles point came down to the No. 3 spot where Auburn's Nick Maurillo and Michel Monteiro faced LSU's Julien Gautheir and David Roberts. Maurillo and Monteiro were able to go up 6-4, but the visitors tied the match at six apiece before going on to take the 8-6 victory to give LSU the doubles point.
Freshman Oliver Strecker recorded his first SEC singles victory of his career, topping Gautheir at No. 5 singles (7-5, 7-5) to give Auburn its first point of the afternoon. Hewitt followed with another Auburn win at No. 2 singles. The freshman bested Bowtell in two sets (6-2, 7-6 (6)) to improve his season record to 13-6 overall.
Stamchev, who is No. 107 nationally, put Auburn up 3-1 with a two-set victory (6-4, 6-3) over Carlsson at No. 3 singles. With the win, Stamchev hasn't been defeated in nine-consecutive matches, dating back to March 7 and is now 15-9 in singles competition.
Junior and team captain Puetz, who was battling an illness today secured the Auburn victory with a three-set win at No. 1 singles over No. 34 Skupski. The 20th-ranked singles player won the first set over Skupski, 7-5, but dropped the second by a score of 6-3. Puetz, however, battled through to take a swift 6-1 win in the third.
"I'm really proud with how Tim (Puetz) fought through today and helped the team get the win," Shore said.
Lopasso extended his win streak to four matches after beating Szacinski in two sets (7-6 (2), 7-5) at No. 5 singles. The day concluded with a three-set clash at No. 6 singles. Auburn's Maurillo took the first set, 7-5, over James Turbervil. The LSU Tiger, however, came back to win the final two sets (6-2, 6-3).
Auburn travels to the state of Mississippi for a pair of SEC matches next weekend. The Tigers take on Ole Miss at 2 p.m. in Oxford on April 9 and then head to Starkville for a 1 p.m. match against Mississippi State on April 11.
Against LSU
Singles
1. No. 20 Tim Puetz (Auburn) def. No. 34 Neal Skupski (LSU); 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
2. Tim Hewitt (Auburn) def. Mark Bowtell (LSU); 6-2, 7-6 (6)
3. No. 107 Alex Stamchev (Auburn) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU); 6-4, 6-3
4. Lucas Lopasso (Auburn) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU); 7-6 (2), 7-5
5. Oliver Strecker (Auburn) def. Julien Gautheir (LSU); 7-5, 7-5
6. James Turbervil (LSU) def. Nick Maurillo (Auburn); 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
1. No. 10 Puetz/Stamchev (Auburn) def. Carlsson/Skupski (LSU); 8-2
2. Bowtell/Szacinski (LSU) def. Hewitt/Lopasso (Auburn); 8-2
3. Gauthier/Roberts (LSU) def. Maurillo/Monteiro (Auburn); 8-6
Match Notes
LSU: 5-12, 2-6 SEC; National ranking #46
Auburn: 8-9, 4-4 SEC; National ranking #45
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,2,3,1,4,6)