Razorbacks Lose SEC Opener at Auburn 5-2
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 63 Arkansas men’s tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 35 Auburn in its Southeastern Conference opener in Auburn, Ala. Razorbacks Matt Hogan and Dmitry Lebedev picked up victories at No. 3 and 5 singles, respectively, to put Arkansas (7-5, 0-1) on the board. The win by Lebedev was his sixth straight.
Blake Strode and Colin Mascall, playing at No. 2 doubles for the Razorbacks, upset the 31st-ranked team of Lukas Marsoun and Tim Puetz, 9-7, to tie the doubles competition at 1-1. Auburn won the first doubles match when Milan Krnjetin and Pawel Dilaj defeated Lebedev and Hogan at the third spot, 8-4.
At No. 1 doubles, Taylor King and Tyler Tarnasky jumped out to a 5-1 lead against No. 43 Alexey Tsyrenov and Terence Nugent before the ranked duo charged back to send the match into a tiebreaker to decide the doubles point. Tsyrenov and Nugent won the match 9-8(5) to clinch the first team point for the Tigers.
Auburn (5-3, 1-0) went ahead 3-0 in the dual with singles victories at the second and fourth spots by Puetz and Nugent, respectively. Puetz, the No. 81 player in the country, defeated Mascall, 6-4, 6-2, while Nugent posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over Chris Nott. The Razorback freshman led 5-4 in the second set, but dropped the final three games to lose the match.
Hogan earned Arkansas’ first team point by beating Marsoun, 6-3, 6-3. The win pushed Hogan’s win total into double digits for the season. The freshman from Canberra, Australia, has won 10 of his 13 matches since joining the team in January.
Tsyrenov, the 59th-ranked singles player in the country, clinched the dual for the Tigers with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Strode at the No. 1 singles position.
Lebedev picked up his straight-sets win over Dilaj, 6-3, 6-3, after the match had been decided. Nick Maurillo defeated Tarknasky at No. 6 singles in the last match on court.
The Razorbacks will continue their weekend on the road with a Sunday afternoon matchup at No. 20 Alabama. First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT. Log on to www.hogwired.com for live stats and complete results.
#35 Auburn 5, #63 Arkansas 2
Feb. 29, 2008
Auburn, Ala.
Singles
*1. #59 Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. #95 Blake Strode (UA), 6-2, 6-2
2. #81 Tim Puetz (AU) def. Colin Mascall (UA), 6-4, 6-2
3. Matt Hogan (UA) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU), 6-3, 6-3
4. Terence Nugent (AU) def. Chris Nott (UA), 6-3, 7-5
5. Dmitry Lebedev (UA) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU), 6-3, 6-3
6. Nick Maurillo (AU) def. Tyler Tarnasky (UA), 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. #43 Alexey Tsyrenov/Terence Nugent (AU) def. Taylor King/Tyler Tarnasky (UA), 9-8(5)
2. Blake Strode/Colin Mascall (UA) def. #31 Lukas Marsoun/Tim Puetz (AU), 9-7
3. Milan Krnjetin/Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Dmitry Lebedev/Matt Hogan (UA), 8-4
Order of Finish:
Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (2, 4, 3, *1, 5, 6)
