AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men's tennis team mounted a valiant comeback but dropped its SEC home opener 4-1 to No. 45 Vanderbilt Friday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
After two tight battles in doubles before Vanderbilt clinched that team point, the Tigers dropped the first set in all six singles matches, but fought back to force a third set on five courts. Playing on court one, senior Tim Dollman posted his first SEC win of the season, defeating top-ranked George Harwell 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, before the Commodores outlasted the Tigers for victories on courts two, four and five to clinch the team match win.
"Our guys are very resilient and are willing to go into battle no matter what the score is, what the condition is and no matter how they are feeling on the court. They're willing to fight through that," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said.
"That's the difference from last year to this year, the maturity and the culture of the team. From a tennis standpoint and the x's and o's, we can't dig ourselves in a hole and think that we can constantly come back. We have to have that belief and attitude from the word go. We need to try to punch them in the face early and see how resilient the other team is.
"Walking off the court, I tell them to keep their heads held high. You look at court five, court three, Tim coming back on one, and we have a chance on six -- we are right there. Can we do more on scoreboard pressure and keeping the match a little bit closer, so those matches can go the distance. Ultimately, the doubles point is huge -- I've said it from the beginning. We started off doubles well and I think that's why we had success. Now, we need to get back working and maybe changing pairings in order to get that spark back."
Auburn is now 9-9 overall; Vanderbilt is 7-5 (1-2 SEC). The Tigers host the No. 49 Kentucky Wildcats (10-5, 1-1 SEC) Sunday at noon. All Auburn home tennis action is at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (771 Yarbrough Farms Blvd., Auburn) and admission is free.
Vanderbilt 4, Auburn 1
Singles
Tim Dollman (AUB) def. George Harwell (VU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Billy Rowe (VU) def. Tyler Stice (AUB) 7-6, 6-3
Tom Wright (AUB) v Max Freeman (VU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-5 unfinished
Panu Vertanen (VU) def. Finn Murgett (AUB) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
Macsen Sisam (VU) def. Spencer Gray (AUB) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Diego Chavarria (AUB) v Marcus Ferreira (VU) 5-7, 7-6 (5), 2-1 unfinished
Doubles
Wright/Murgett (AUB) v Rowe/Vertanen (VU) 5-5 unfinished
Harwell/Sisam (VU) def. Dollman/Stice (AUB) 6-2
Adam Sraberg/Christiaan Worst (VU) def. Chavarria/Anders Fry (AUB) 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3; Singles: 1,2,5,4; Time of match: 2:39; Official: Donna Jerome