Sept. 29, 2012
NAPA, Calif. - Four individuals from the Auburn men's tennis team won a combined 11 of 12 matches in the first two days at the Silverado Resort & Spa 2012 College Tennis Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers went undefeated in doubles competition over the first two days of the three-day event. On Friday, sophomore Lukas Ollert and Michael Wardell defeated Richard Bucalem and Bernardo Sariava (San Francisco), 8-6, while junior Dennis Lengsfeld and senior Lucas Lopasso earned an 8-5 victory over USF's Germain Bahri and Nils Skaaja.
On Saturday, Lengsfeld and Lopasso rolled to an 8-3 victory over Denis Stolyarov and Sam Verbeek of Pacific, and Ollert and Wardell won by an identical score over Pacific's Alex Hamilton and Trevor James.
In singles, the Tigers won seven of eight matches over two days. Friday saw Lopasso cruise past Brandon Champagne (Oklahoma State), 6-0, 6-1, and Wardell earn an equally impressive victory over OSU's Trevor Hortsman, 6-2, 6-0. Lengsfeld ran past Cal Poly's Jordan Bridge, 6-4, 6-3, and Ollert suffered Auburn's only loss, falling to Cal Poly's Marco Comuzza in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Auburn swept the four Saturday singles matches over four opponents from Fresno State. Wardell defeated Jeremy Quiroz, 6-3, 6-1; Lengsfeld beat Sam McNeil, 6-3, 6-3; Lopasso took down Sai Kartik, 6-2, 6-2, and Ollert ran past Reid DeLaubenfels, 6-4, 6-3.
The Tigers will wrap up the Napa Valley tournament Sunday with six more round-robin matches. Lengsfeld and Lopasso will face the Oklahoma State team of Champagne and Hortsman in doubles, while Ollert and Wardell will play Comuzza and Bridge of Cal Poly. In singles, Auburn will play four matches against players from Pacific. Ollert will face Stolyarov, Lopasso will play Verbeek, Lengsfeld will take on Hamilton and Wardell will face James.