Sept. 24, 2010
WACO, Texas - The Auburn men's tennis team kicked off the fall season on the road as four members of the squad traveled to Baylor University for the three-day HEB Baylor Invitational at the Baylor Tennis Center. The Tigers picked up five wins on the first day of competition Friday.
"It was a long day for the team today, but the four athletes did a good job in their first tournament of the fall season," associate head coach Gabor Pelva said. "The positives outweighed the negatives and it is good to get the first tournament under our belts."
Senior Tim Puetz advanced to the round of 16 after picking up two wins to start the day. Puetz, the top-seeded singles player in the tournament, opened with a two-set (7-5, 6-3) victory over Baylor's Sergio Ramirez. He then followed with another two-set (6-1, 6-3) win, defeating James Langford of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Puetz, however, withdrew from the tournament following his second match due to injury.
Also playing in the singles A draw was junior Alex Stamchev, who was the sixth-seeded singles player. Stamchev defeated Aurelien Tave of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in two sets (6-1, 7-6 (5)) to open competition. Stamchev, however, fell in the round of 32 to Texas A&M's Colin Hoover in two sets (6-2, 6-2).
Competing in the B singles draw was sophomore Lucas Lopasso, who advanced to the round of 16 with a two-set, 7-6, 6-2, win over Louisiana-Lafayette's Brandon Farine.
"I'm very proud of Lucas (Lopasso) today," Pelva said. "He played very tough overall and I'm anxious to see him continue to do well in this tournament."
The Tigers also had a pair of doubles teams participating in the tournament. Competing in the doubles B draw was Lopasso and partner sophomore Tim Hewitt. The duo picked up an 8-4 win over Beau Blackshear and Santiago Centeno.
Puetz and Stamchev entered the tournament as the top-seeded doubles team in the doubles A draw and faced a tough duo in TCU's Slah Mbarek and Daniel Sanchez. The two teams battled throughout the set and the duo from TCU came out on top with the tight 9-8 (5) win.
Competition continues Saturday at the HEB Baylor Invitational as Lopasso continued singles competition, while he and teammate Hewitt look to advance in doubles play.