AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men's tennis team captured both ends of a doubleheader with Alabama A&M Wednesday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, winning by scores of 7-0 and 7-0.
"The purpose of the match was to get a lot of point play, play a lot of doubles and a lot of singles, It served its purpose," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "The guys did a good job of coming out and taking care of business and then moving on. I was happy with today's performance.
"It will be good to play Harvard Friday and Northwestern Sunday over in Tuscaloosa – those are two good teams – so it's a good chance for us. Both of those teams are right where we are in terms of personnel and where we'll finish in the rankings.
"The one thing we have on our side is we've played a lot of matches already and gained a lot of confidence in how we want to play on the court. We add a player for this weekend (Filippo Mora) to give us more depth; hopefully, we will come home with two more wins."
In the first match, Auburn swept the doubles contests. Playing on court three, Alex Rushin and Michael Durham posted a 6-1 victory over Cristian Bigott and Rodrigo Arana Rios, and Brandon Laubser and Diego Chavarria clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory on court one over Shakir Elvin and Hsiang Yi Wang. Tim Dollman and Anders Fry completed the sweep with a 6-1 win on court two over Nishangan Nadaraja and Cheng Yang Chang.
The Tigers got singles wins from Durham (6-0, 6-0 on court three), Rushin (6-2, 6-0 on court four) and Laubser on court one (6-2, 6-3) to clinch the team victory. Chavarria, Fry and Dollman added singles wins after the match was clinched.
In the second match, Auburn captured the doubles point with a pair of victories. Rushin and Durham were 6-0 winners on court three and Laubser and Chavarria added the team point with a 6-1 win on court one.
Durham was first to finish in singles again, posting a 6-1, 6-0 decision on court three. Chavarria added a 6-0, 6-2 win on court five and Fry clinched the team win with a 6-1, 6-1 victory on court six. Dollman, Rushin and Laubser completed the sweep in singles.
Auburn, now 7-0, will spend the upcoming weekend in Tuscaloosa, playing Harvard Friday at 1:00 p.m. and Northwestern Sunday at 9:00 a.m. in a pair of neutral-site contests at the Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
That will mark the debut of freshman Filippo Mora, who joined the Tigers for the spring semester. Mora, a product of Bergamo, Italy, is experienced in a number of European and international competitions.
Auburn's next home matches come Friday, February 1, against Georgia Tech (11 a.m.) and Alabama State (5 p.m.). All Auburn home tennis action is at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (771 Yarbrough Farms Blvd., Auburn) and admission is free.
Auburn 7, Alabama A&M 0
Singles
Brandon Laubser (AUB) def. Nishangan Nadaraja (AAMU) 6-2, 6-3
Tim Dollman (AUB) def. Hsiang Yi Wang (AAMU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
Michael Durham (AUB) def. Fermin Ruiz Crespo (AAMU) 6-0, 6-0
Alex Rushin (AUB) def. Shakir Elvin (AAMU) 6-2, 6-0
Diego Chavarria (AUB) def. Rodrigo Arana Rios (AAMU) 6-1, 6-3
Anders Fry (AUB) def. Cheng Yang Chang (AAMU) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
Laubser/Chavarria (AUB) def. Elvin/Wang (AAMU) 6-3
Dollman/Fry (AUB) def. Nadaraja/Chang (AAMU) 6-1
Rushin/Durham (AUB) def. Bigott/Arana Rios (AAMU) 6-1
Time of match: 1:50; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1,2; Singles: 3,4,1,5,6,2
Auburn 7, Alabama A&M 0
Singles
Brandon Laubser (AUB) def. Hsiang Yi Wang (AAMU) 7-5, 6-1
Tim Dollman (AUB) def. Nishangan Nadaraja (AAMU) 6-0, 6-0
Michael Durham (AUB) def. Shakir Elvin (AAMU) 6-1, 6-0
Alex Rushin (AUB) def. Fermin Ruiz Crespo (AAMU) 6-1, 6-1
Diego Chavarria (AUB) def. Cheng Yang Chang (AAMU) 6-0, 6-2
Anders Fry (AUB) def. Rodrigo Arana Rios (AAMU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
Laubser/Chavarria (AUB) def. Wang/Elvin (AAMU) 6-1
Dollman/Fry (AUB) v Bigott/Arana Rios (AAMU) 4-2 unfinished
Rushin/Durham (AUB) def. Nadaraja/Chang (AAMU) 6-0
Time of match: 1:40; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 3,5,6,2,5,1