April 8, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn men's tennis swept a doubleheader Sunday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, defeating #44 Arkansas 4-3 and downing Alabama A&M 4-0.
Capturing its first SEC win of the spring, Auburn won five of six first sets in singles. Victories by Brandon Laubser on court six (6-2, 6-2), Matteo De Vincentis on court two (6-3, 6-4) and Carles Sarrio on court four (6-4, 6-4) gave Auburn a 3-2 team lead, but Arkansas tied the match 3-3 and the decision came down to court five, where Tad Maclean posted a dramatic 6-2 win in the third set to clinch the match and the SEC victory by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 score over Pedro Alonso.
Arkansas picked up the doubles point with wins on courts one and three, despite a 6-4 Auburn victory by Tad Maclean and Olle Thestrup on court two over Jose Salazar and Pedro Alonso.
"Getting the SEC win today is a credit to the group of guys that we have and how they fight every day," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. "It's a credit to their resilience and the way they keep believing. That we persevered for the victory speaks to the type of team that we have. And it's fitting that it came down to Tad again, after he was in a similar situation Friday night. He learned from that and found success today. Hats off to our whole group for their play today."
Against Alabama A&M, the Tigers quickly clinched the doubles point with wins by Diego Chavarria and Laubser 6-0 on court three and by De Vincentis and Alex Rushin 6-1 on court one. Auburn swept the first sets of all six singles matches and clinched the match with singles wins by Chavarria, Laubser and De Vincentis.
Auburn seniors Viboosh Chandrasekar and Edward Nguyen were honored during their final home matches of the regular season. The Tigers are now 12-15 overall and 1-9 in SEC play. No. 44 Arkansas is 12-13 overall and 3-8 in SEC action this season. Alabama A&M is 4-11 overall.
Auburn finishes the regular season next weekend with SEC road matches at LSU on Friday and at No. 5 Texas A&M on Sunday. The SEC tournament is April 25-28 at Alabama.
Auburn 4, #44 Arkansas 3
Singles
#38 Jose Salazar (UA) def. Edward Nguyen (AU) 6-1, 6-1
#100 Matteo De Vincentis (AU) def. Adam Sanjurjo (UA) 6-3, 6-4
Oscar Mesquida (UA) def. Olle Thestrup (AU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Carles Sarrio (AU) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (UA) 6-4, 6-4
Tad Maclean (AU) def. Pedro Alonso (UA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Brandon Laubser (AU) def. Jose Alonso (UA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
#88 Mesquida/Sanjurjo (UA) def. Sarrio/DeVincentis (AU) 6-3
Maclean/Thestrup (AU) def. Salazar/Pedro Alonso (UA) 6-4
Jose Alonso/Howard-Tripp (UA) def. Laubser/Diego Chavarria (AU) 6-2
Time of match: 3:06; Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3,1; Singles: 1,6,2,4,3,5; Official: Donna Jerome
Auburn 4, Alabama A&M 0
Singles
#100 Matteo DeVincentis (AU) def. Nishangan Nadaraja (AAMU) 6-1, 6-3
Michael Durham (AU) v Cristian Bigott (AAMU) 6-4, 2-1 unfinished
Brandon Laubser (AU) def. Carlos Salas (AAMU) 6-2, 6-0
Alex Rushin (AU) v Mateo Monroy (AAMU) 6-0, 4-1 unfinished
Alex Mascioli (AU) v Fermin Ruiz Gespo (AAMU) 6-0, 2-1 unfinished
Diego Chavarria (AU) def. Shakir Elvin (AAMU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
DeVincentis/Rushin (AU) def. Nadaraja/Elvin (AAMU) 6-1
Mascioli/Durham (AU) v Biggot/Ruiz Gespo (AAMU) 5-2 unfinished
Chavarria/Laubser (AU) def. Salas/Monroy (AAMU) 6-0
Time of match: 1:27; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 6,3,1