AU ROUNDUP: Men’s tennis advances

Special to the News

Published: May 11, 2008

ATHENS, Ga. — For the first time all season, the No. 35 Auburn men’s tennis team was able to overcome losing the doubles point and earn the match win as the Tigers defeated No. 28 Wake Forest, 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

With the win, Auburn moves on to the second round and will play No. 5 Georgia today. The second round match will begin at 1 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga.

Auburn advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in the program’s history. The Tigers are now 18-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and hold a 4-3 advantage in the series against Wake Forest.

“We just battled,” said Auburn head coach Eric Shore. “I thought we played well in doubles, but it was close again and we lost a very close doubles point. We didn’t hang our head and just battled and won a close one.”

Wake Forest jumped to the early lead in the match by winning No. 1 and 3 doubles. Seventh-ranked Cory Parr and Steven Forman teamed up to defeat Auburn’s Alexey Tsyrenov and Terence Nugent in No. 1 doubles, 8-4.

Mariusz Adamski and Carlos Salmon clinched the point for the Demon Deacons with an 8-6 win over AU’s Tim Puetz and Pawel Dilaj in No. 2 doubles. When doubles play was suspended, Auburn’s Lukas Marsoun and Milan Krnjetin held an 8-7 advantage over Jason Morganstern and Jonathan Wolff.

The loss of the doubles point put Auburn in a tough spot as it entered the match with a 0-10 record when losing the early point. The last time the Tigers won a match after losing doubles was on April 8, 2007 when Auburn pulled out a 4-3 win over LSU.

Juniors Marsoun and Krnjetin won the crucial singles points down the stretch to give Auburn the win. With Wake Forest holding a 3-2 lead, one point away from the win, Marsoun took his No. 3 singles match to three sets to earn the 2-6, 7-6 (0), 7-5 win over Adamski to tie the match at 3-3.

Krnjetin followed up with a three-set thriller of his own in No. 5 singles, clinching the match win for Auburn by defeating Jonathan Wolff, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2.

“You’ve got to give Lukas Marsoun a lot of credit there, losing the first set and he didn’t quit mentally,” said Shore. “Milan got down early in the first set and came back for a big win. He ended up going three sets, but he hung in there and that is what we have been trying to tell the team all year and they got it done today.”

No. 87 Puetz, a freshman playing in his first NCAA Tournament, put Auburn up on the board first, beating No. 68 Forman, 6-2, 6-2 in No. 2 singles. Dilaj, Auburn’s senior captain, followed up in No. 4 singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Morganstern.

Taking losses in singles were Tsyrenov, ranked 27th in the nation, and Nick Maurillo. Tsyrenov lost to No. 46 Parr, 6-3, 6-3, while Maurillo lost to Andrew Brasseaux, 6-4, 7-5.

Fans can follow all the action in today’s second round live by visiting the Tournament Central page at http://www.GeorgiaDogs.com. A free video Webcast is available along with live scoring.

Women’s tennis swept out of NCAAs by UF
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 29 Auburn women’s tennis team fell, 4-0, to the No. 6 Florida Gators in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Marrit Boonstra captured the first singles point for Florida when she defeated Auburn’s Jil Hastenrath 6-0, 6-1. Whitney Chappell fell to Whitney Benik of Florida shortly after, 6-3, 6-0.

Anastasia Revzina clinched the second round win for the Gators with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Dunja Djuranovic in the six spot.

The Tigers lost a tough doubles point to the Gators, but Alex Haney and Melissa Koning came away with a win defeating Boonstra and Megan Alexander 8-4.

Although the team is out of the tournament, three Tigers will continue on in the individual championships in Tulsa, Okla., beginning May 15.

Fani Chifchieva will represent Auburn in the singles bracket as a seeded player. Haney and Koning will represent Auburn in the doubles bracket.