March 30, 2014
| #26 Vanderbilt 4, #34 Auburn 3 | ||
| Men's Singles Results | ||
| No. 1 | #110 Ollert (AU) def. #17 Austin (VU) | 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1 |
| No. 2 | #57 Lipman (VU) def. #64 Cochrane (VU) | 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) |
| No. 3 | Yee (VU) def. Lengsfeld (AU) | 6-4, 6-1 |
| No. 4 | Saleh (AU) def. Johnson (VU) | 6-0, 6-3 |
| No. 5 | Van Dooren (AU) def. Kovrigin (VU) | 6-1, 6-3 |
| No. 6 | Offerdal (VU) def. Tomic (AU) | 7-6 (4), 6-3 |
| Order of Finish | 4, 5, 3, 6, 1, 2 | |
| Men's Doubles Results | ||
| No. 1 | #4 Austin/Lipman (VU) def. #49 Cochrane/Plaskett (AU) | 8-7 (2) |
| No. 2 | Johnson/Kovrigin (VU) def. Lengsfeld/Ollert (AU) | 8-7 (4) |
| No. 3 | Saleh/Van Dooren (AU) def. Binet/Smith (VU) | 8-3 |
| Order of Finish | 3, 1, 2 | |
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 34 Auburn men's tennis team battled to the final point, but came up short on Sunday, falling to Vanderbilt, 4-3, at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
With the match tied at 3-3, senior Daniel Cochrane fell in a third-set tiebreaker on court two 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to Vanderbilt's No. 57 Ryan Lipman in a thriller, sealing the win for the Commodores and ending the Tigers' comeback effort that came up just short.
Both players battled in a back-and-forth third set, with the match decided in a tiebreaker with Lipman constructing two final points to earn the victory. The loss snapped an eight-match winning streak for Cochrane.
"Obviously, it was a very tough match and we had our chances. We should have won the doubles point, but we almost overcame it with four wins in singles. We had team match point and Dan fought off one, they fought off two. It was tough battle, and a tough match all the way around," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said.
Tiebreakers were a theme in Sunday's match, including in doubles where Vanderbilt (13-7, 4-5 SEC) took the point from Auburn (14-9, 4-5 SEC) with an 8-7 (4) win at No. 2 by Rhys Johnson and Anton Kovrign over the Tigers' Dennis Lengsfeld and Lukas Ollert.
Dante Saleh and Joseph Van Dooren were the first pair off the court, posting an 8-3 victory on court three for the Tigers. Vanderbilt made it 1-1 in doubles as fourth-ranked Gonzales Austin and Lipman defeated Auburn's No. 49 duo of Cochrane and Oliver Plaskett, 8-7 (2).
In singles, Saleh picked up his second win of the weekend, cruising to a 6-0, 6-3 win on court four to even the match at 1-1. Van Dooren followed up at No. 5, winning 6-1, 6-3 to put the Tigers in the lead 2-1 over the Commodores.
Vanderbilt's Krys Yee tied the match once again, this time at 2-2, defeating Auburn's Lengsfeld 6-3, 6-1 on court three. Petar Tomic dropped the first set in his match in a tiebreaker and fell to the Commodores' Jeffery Offerdal 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the No. 6 spot in the lineup.
No. 110 Ollert earned a hard-fought win at No. 1, taking down No. 17 Austin to the match at 3-3.
The junior dropped the first set in a tiebreaker, but battled back to knock off Austin 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1 to pick up his fifth win of the season over a ranked opponent.
The Tigers hit the road for just one match next weekend, taking on Texas A&M next Sunday at 1 p.m. Auburn upset the Aggies last season, 4-3, at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in the first meeting between the team in SEC play.
For complete coverage on the Auburn men's tennis team, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow @MensTennisAU on Twitter and `like' the Auburn Men's Tennis page on Facebook.