April 8, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn's 16th-ranked men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday to close out the home regular season schedule at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Tigers (15-8, 4-6 SEC) finished with a 7-2 mark in home matches this season with their only losses to the No. 19 and No. 4 teams in the country. Georgia will head into the final weekend of league play at 19-2 overall, 9-1 in the SEC.
"I thought we played better in doubles today than we did on Friday," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. "I saw improvement there. We still need to finish, but we definitely played better. I thought in singles, in spots, we played well. Andy (Mies) continues to play well. If you look at it from the start of the weekend until the end, I thought we made some improvement. Now we've got to get ready for Saturday, take a couple of days off and get healthy, and get ready to go to Alabama."
It was a fight to the finish for the doubles point, ultimately claimed by Georgia. The Bulldogs struck first with a win on court three as KU Singh and Wil Spencer defeated Daniel Cochrane and Lukas Ollert, 8-5. The match on court two stayed on serve through the first 14 games before Auburn's team of Dennis Lengsfeld and Lucas Lopasso broke Georgia's serve to go up 8-7 and have a chance to serve for the match. However, Georgia would break back to force a tiebreaker, which the UGA team of Nathan Pasha and Sadio Doumbia won 7-2 to take the match 9-8 and earn the doubles point for the Bulldogs.
Georgia's team of Hernus Pieters and Ignacio Taboada fought off three match point attempts on court one, but the Auburn team of Alex Stamchev and Andreas Mies would ultimately prevail, 9-7, to salvage one victory in the doubles competition. It was the 206th career victory for Stamchev; he is now one win away from the all-time combined singles/doubles wins record at Auburn; Marcel van der Merwe won 207 matches from 1984-87. Stamchev was honored with a plaque between the doubles and singles matches in recognition of his final home match on Senior Day.
The Bulldogs increased their lead to 2-1 with a win at the No. 2 singles position as Stamchev fell to Singh in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
But Mies got Auburn on the board with a huge win, knocking off eighth-ranked Spencer in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, to pull the Tigers within a point at 2-1. It was the highest-ranked win by any Auburn player this season and gives Mies his third straight win over a ranked opponent.
However, from there, it would be all Georgia. On court six, Pasha defeated Lopasso, 6-3, 6-3, to put the Bulldogs a point away from clinching. Lengsfeld would then drop a hard-fought match at the No. 4 spot to 33rd-ranked Taboada, falling 6-4, 7-5, to clinch the match for Georgia.
Ollert fought hard as well, taking No. 62-ranked Pieters to a second-set tiebreaker before eventually dropping a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) decision. And Cochrane dropped his match at No. 3 singles to 24th-ranked Doumbia, 7-5, 6-3, to wrap up the day.
Auburn will close out the 2012 regular season next Saturday, April 14, as they travel to Tuscaloosa to face archrival Alabama. The match is set for a 5 p.m. start at the Alabama Tennis Complex.
Auburn Men's Tennis
April 8, 2012
Yarbrough Tennis Center - Auburn, Ala.
#4 Georgia 6, #16 Auburn 1
Singles
1. #27 Andreas Mies (AU) def. #8 Wil Spencer (UGA), 6-1, 6-2
2. #32 KU Singh (UGA) def. #77 Alex Stamchev (AU), 6-3, 6-2
3. #24 Sadio Doumbia (UGA) def. Daniel Cochrane (AU), 7-5, 6-3
4. #33 Ignacio Taboada (UGA) def. Dennis Lengsfeld (AU), 6-4, 7-5
5. #62 Hernus Pieters (UGA) def. Lukas Ollert (AU), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
6. Nathan Pasha (UGA) def. Lucas Lopasso (AU), 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 6, 4*, 5, 3
Doubles
1. #16 Andreas Mies/Alex Stamchev (AU) def. #34 Hernus Pieters/Ignacio Taboada (UGA), 9-7
2. #59 Nathan Pasha/Sadio Doumbia (UGA) def. Dennis Lengsfeld/Lucas Lopasso (AU), 9-8
3. KU Singh/Wil Spencer (UGA) def. Daniel Cochrane/Lukas Ollert (AU), 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 2*, 1
Match Notes
Auburn 15-8 (4-6 SEC), National ranking #16
Georgia 19-2 (9-1 SEC), National ranking #4
T - 3:54
Senior day for Alex Stamchev