No. 23 Men’s tennis edged 4-3 by No. 16 South Carolina

Box Score
No. 23 Men’s tennis edged 4-3 by No. 16 South CarolinaNo. 23 Men’s tennis edged 4-3 by No. 16 South Carolina

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 23 Auburn men’s tennis was narrowly defeated by No. 16 South Carolina 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. The Gamecocks built a 3-1 lead before Auburn’s Hamza Nasridinov earned a win to cut the deficit to 3-2. Both remaining singles matches were decided in third sets, with South Carolina ultimately securing the victory.

On the top doubles court, an early break helped Auburn’s Billy and Freddy Blaydes take a 3-1 lead over Paul Barbier Gazeu and Lucas da Silva. Leading 3-2, the Blaydes brothers won three straight games to complete a 6-2 win over the eighth-ranked doubles team in the nation. The win improved the Auburn pair’s record to 17-11 overall and 12-5 in dual matches. South Carolina claimed the other two doubles matches to secure the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead.

Hamza Nasridinov, Alan Bojarski and Manel Lazaro won their respective opening sets to begin singles, while South Carolina claimed first sets at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 positions.

The Gamecocks struck first in singles with a straight-set win at the No. 2 position to take a 2-0 lead. At the No. 5 position, Bojarski won four consecutive games over Gabe Avram to begin the match and went on to take the set 6-1 with a break in the final game. The two sides went back and forth early in the second set until Bojarski earned a break on a deciding point to take a 5-3 lead and held serve to win 6-1, 6-3 and cut the deficit to 2-1.

Auburn’s Freddy Blaydes bounced back from an opening-set loss to South Carolina’s Max Stenzer at the No. 4 singles position with a 6-3 second-set win to force a third set. Stenzer prevailed in the decisive third set to extend the Gamecocks’ lead to 3-1.

On the top singles court, Nasridinov and South Carolina’s Lucas da Silva traded games early before Nasridinov built a 4-2 lead. Leading 5-4, the Auburn sophomore won a deciding point to take the set 6-4. Nasridinov jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set before da Silva rallied to tie it at 5. The set went to a tiebreak, which Nasridinov won 7-0 to secure the victory over the 15th-ranked player in the nation and cut South Carolina’s lead to 3-2. At that point, both remaining matches were in third sets.

At the No. 3 position, Auburn’s Nicholas Heng came back from an opening-set loss to force a third set against South Carolina’s Atakan Karahan. A late break gave Karahan a 5-3 lead, but Heng responded with a break of his own on a deciding point. Karahan ultimately won the match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to clinch the team victory for the Gamecocks.

After the team match was decided, Auburn freshman Manel Lazaro won a third-set tiebreak to defeat Charlie Swaine 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).

The loss drops Auburn’s record to 15-6 overall and 5-5 in conference play. The Tigers have lost just two matches at home this season and hold an 11-2 record at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Up next, Auburn will remain at home to host No. 10 Texas A&M on Thursday at 3 p.m. CT and No. 3 Texas on Saturday at noon CT for Senior Day.

 

#16 South Carolina 4, #23 Auburn 3

Singles Results:

  1. #40 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) def. #15 Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-4, 7-6 (7-0)
  2. #105 Paul Barbier Gazeu (SC) def. #76 Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-1, 6-1
  3. Atakan Karahan (SC) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
  4. Max Stenzer (SC) def. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
  5. Alan Bojarski (AUB) def. Gabe Avram (SC) 6-1, 6-3
  6. Manel Lazaro (AUB) def. Charlie Swaine (SC) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5)

Doubles Results:

  1. #63 Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. #8 Paul Barbier Gazeu/Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-2
  2. Atakan Karahan/Max Stenzer (SC) def. Nicholas Heng/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-3
  3. Gabe Avram/Charlie Swaine (SC) def. Hamza Nasridinov/Jake Kennedy (AUB) 6-4

 

Time of match: 3:33 Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3,2; Singles: 2,5,4,1,3,6 Official: Donna Jerome