March 5, 2006
Auburn, Ala. - The No. 39 Auburn men's tennis team (7-3, 1-1 SEC) swept No. 52 Vanderbilt (5-5, 0-2 SEC) Sunday afternoon at the Luther Young Tennis Complex.
The Tigers won all three doubles matches to take the point. At the No. 1 position, Alex Schweizer and Terence Nugent defeated Vanderbilt's 36th ranked duo of Evan Dufaux and Andy Mack, 8-4. Auburn's No. 57 Robbert Lathouwers and Lukas Marsoun downed the Commodores' Ryan Preston and Nathan Sachs by a score of 8-6. Milan Krnjetin and Pawel Dilaj picked up their second doubles win of the weekend by defeating Vanderbilt's Nick Cromydas and Jordan Magarik, 8-6.
"We needed to win this match and get our first conference win," head coach Eric Shore said. "After a tough loss on Friday I thought we came back and played well. We did a good job in doubles staying positive and hanging in there after we got down early on a couple of courts.
In singles, Alex Schweizer returned to form after coming off a recent knee injury. He defeated Vanderbilt's No. 70 Ryan Preston in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Auburn's No. 83 Robbert Lathouwers improved his singles record to 9-1 on the season as he defeated Evan Dufaux of Vanderbilt 7-5, 6-3. Nick Lane capped off a perfect weekend in singles as he defeated Vanderbilt's No. 90 Andy Mack 6-3, 6-4, to clinch the match for the Tigers. Pawel Dilaj was victorious over the Commodores' Nick Cromydas 7-5, 6-3. Terence Nugent improved his singles record to 6-3 as he defeated Jordan Magarik, 6-3, 6-4.
At the No. 4 position, Milan Krnjetin faced Vanderbilt's Nathan Sachs. Sachs won the first set, 6-4, but Krnjetin evened the match with a 6-4 win of his own in the second set. Since all other matches were complete, the players entered a ten-point tiebreak to determine the winner. In the tiebreak, Krnjetin prevailed by a score of 10-6 and gave the Tigers their fourth 7-0 sweep of 2006.
"Before the match we talked about getting off to a good start in singles. I thought we did that today, but we have to improve on some things if we are going to win matches on the road. Overall it was a good start for us today," Shore said.
The Tigers return to action March 10 versus Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., at 2 p.m. The next home match is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15, as the Tigers take on Southern Mississippi at the Luther Young Tennis Complex at 1:30 p.m.
Singles
Alex Schweizer (AU) d. No. 70 Ryan Preston (VU) 6-2, 6-4
No. 83 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) d. Evan Dufaux (VU) 7-5, 6-3
Nick Lane (AU) d. No. 90 Andy Mack (VU) 6-3, 6-4
Milan Krnjetin (AU) d. Nathan Sachs (VU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
Pawel Dilaj (AU) d. Nick Cromydas (VU) 7-5, 6-3
Terence Nugent (AU) d. Jordan Magerik (VU) 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 3, 2, 5, 4
Doubles
Schweizer/Nugent (AU) d. No. 36 Dufaux/Mack (VU) 8-4
No. 57 Lathouwers/Marsoun (AU) d. Preston/Sachs (VU) 8-6
Krnjetin/Dilaj (AU) d. Cromydas/Magerik (VU) 8-6
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1