AUBURN, Ala. – Despite two wins over ranked opponents, the Auburn men's tennis squad came out on the short end of a 5-2 decision to No. 18 LSU Sunday afternoon indoors at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
"We saw some improvement from Friday's match," said Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds. "Like Friday, we had a chance to win the doubles point and should have. We were glad to see Matteo win a match like he did today over a ranked player; he shows that aggressive play in practice and it was good to see in a match. We just have to play better 1-6 and be more consistent."
In doubles, Auburn's top tandem of Brandon Laubser and Tad Maclean came out of the gates on fire, easily posting a 6-2 win over No. 45-ranked Rafael Wagner and Joey Thomas. LSU was able to win on courts two and three and took the doubles point.
In singles, LSU picked up quick wins on courts two and three before the match tightened. Michael Durham took Nick Watson to a first-set tiebreaker, and Matteo DeVincentis picked up Auburn's first team point of the afternoon, defeating No. 112 Shane Monroe 7-5, 6-4 on court one. Tad Maclean forced a third set on court four vs. Boris Kozlov, and went on to pick up the win there 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Auburn is now 11-8 on the season (0-2 SEC); LSU goes to 12-2 (1-1 SEC). Next weekend, Auburn is on the road at #27 Vanderbilt on Friday and at Kentucky on Sunday. The Tigers' next home match comes Saturday, March 16, vs. Mississippi State.
#18 LSU 5, Auburn 2
Singles
Matteo DeVincentis (AU) def. #112 Shane Monroe (LSU) 7-5, 6-4
Rafael Wagner (LSU) def. Filippo Mora (LSU) 6-0, 6-1
Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) def. Brandon Laubser (AU) 6-3, 6-4
Tad Maclean (AU) def. Boris Kozlov (LSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Joey Thomas (LSU) def. Tim Dollman (AU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
Nick Watson (LSU) def. Michael Durham (AU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
Doubles
Laubser/Maclean (AU) def. #45 Wagner/Thomas (LSU) 6-2
Monroe/Daniel Moreno (LSU) def. DeVincentis/Dollman (AU) 6-2
Kozlov/Watson (LSU) def. Anders Fry/Diego Chavarria (AU) 6-3
Time of match: 2:44; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2,3; Singles: 2,3,1,6,5,4