AUBURN, Ala. – Despite winning the doubles, point, the Auburn men's tennis team came up on the short end of a 6-1 decision at No. 26 Vanderbilt Friday evening in an SEC match played at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville.
Auburn started off strong, as Diego Chavarria and Anders Fry captured a 6-4 doubles win on court three. After the Commodores took court one by a 6-4 score, the match on court two was deadlocked 6-6, but Matteo DeVincentis and Filippo Mora prevailed 7-3 in the tiebreaker to win 7-6 and give the Tigers the important doubles point.
In singles, the Commodores swung the momentum their way, taking the first set in five of the six matches, the only exception coming on court one, where Auburn's DeVincentis held a 6-3 lead. Mora, Tad Maclean and Tim Dollman forced tiebreakers for Auburn, but were unsuccessful, and Vanderbilt swept the singles to win the match.
Auburn is now 11-9 (0-3 SEC), while Vanderbilt goes to 12-3 overall (2-1 SEC).
Sunday, Auburn visits No. 44 Kentucky (8-7, 2-1 SEC) for a 1 p.m. match at the Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington. The Wildcats defeated No. 17 Alabama in Lexington Friday afternoon. In the latest Oracle/ITA rankings, Kentucky's Ryotaro Matsumura is No. 44 in singles nationally.
#26 Vanderbilt 6, Auburn 1
Singles
Cam Klinger (VU) def. Matteo DeVincentis (AU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
George Harwell (VU) def. Filippo Mora (AU) 7-5, 6-7, 6-0
Macsen Sisam (VU) def. Tad Maclean (AU) 6-1, 7-6
Billy Rowe (VU) def. Brandon Laubser (AU) 6-3, 6-4
Panu Virtanen (VU) def. Tim Dollman (AU) 6-4, 7-6
Marcus Ferreira (VU) def. Michael Durham (AU) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
Klinger/Rowe (VU) def. Laubser/Maclean (AU) 6-4
DeVincentis/Mora (AU) def. Virtanen/Christian Worst (VU) 7-6 (7-3)
Anders Fry/Diego Chavarria (AU) def. Harwell/Ferreira (VU) 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1,2; Singles: 4,3,5,1,2,6