April 8, 2007
Baton Rouge, La. - It was an exciting day at the W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., as the No. 40 Auburn men's tennis team sneaked past No. 13 LSU with a victory by Lukas Marsoun at No. 3 singles. Auburn improved to 12-7, 5-4 SEC, while LSU dropped to 14-5, 6-4 SEC.
"I am very proud of our guys today," head coach Eric Shore said. "We were down 3-0 but did not lose sight of our goal to win the match. Alexey got us started and we never looked back. Lukas was just phenomenal in that last set and I am very proud of him for not getting down and battling back. We needed this win and I couldn't be happier for our team."
The fate of the match came down to court three as Marsoun and LSU"s Colt Gaston battled it out in the third set. Gaston was up 5-4, match point, in the third set before Marsoun made his move to even the score at five-all. Gaston would take the next game and have another chance for match point, before Marsoun evened the ledger to send the match to a tiebreaker. Marsoun won the tiebreaker 8-6, to take the overall win and give Auburn the team victory, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.
LSU took an early lead with singles wins on court six and one. Jan Zelezny made quick work of Terence Nugent, 6-1, 6-1, while No. 24 Ken Skupski finished off No. 47 Alex Schweizer, 6-4, 6-3. Auburn would rebound back and take the next four singles victories started off by Alexey Tsyrenov on court five. Tsyrenov blasted past James Cluskey, 6-3, 6-1, to earn Auburn's first point.
Pawel Dilaj followed that up with a win on court four over No. 76 Ken Dessauer, 6-3, 6-4. Auburn would look to No. 64 Robbert Lathouwers on court two to keep them alive as LSU still held the lead 3-2. Lathouwers would not disappoint, defeating his seventh ranked opponent this season, No.34 Danny Bryan, 7-5, 7-5, to even the team score.
LSU picked up the doubles point with victories on all three courts. The Bayou Bengals got things rolling on court three with a Dessauer/Zelezny win over Dilaj/Marsoun, 8-3. The point was earned on court one as the seventh-ranked pair of Bryan/Gaston got past Schweizer/Lathouwers, 8-3. No. 19 Cluskey/Skupski picked up the win on court two, over Nugent/Tsyrenov, 8-5.
The Tigers conclude the regular season on April 14 versus Alabama, followed by the continuation of the Florida match on April 15. Both matches will be held at the Auburn Intramural Courts.
Singles Competition:
1. #24 Ken Stupski (LSU) def. #47 Alex Schweizer (AU), 6-4, 6-3
2. #64 Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. #34 Danny Bryan (LSU), 7-5, 7-5
3. Lukas Maroun (AU) def. Colt Gaston (LSU), 3-6, 7-6, 7-6
4. Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. #76 Kevin Dessauer (LSU), 6-3, 6-4
5. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. James Clukey (LSU), 6-3, 6-1
6. Jan Zelezny (LSU) def. Terence Nugent (AU), 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 5, 4, 2, 3
Doubles Competition:
1. #7 Bryan/Gaston (LSU) def. Schweizer/Lathouwers (AU), 8-3
2. #19 Cluskey/Skupski (LSU) def. Nugent/Tsyrenov (AU), 8-5
3. Dessauer/Zelezny (LSU) def. Dilaj/Marsoun (AU), 8-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1