Tigers Out In Second Round at NCAA Tennis

Athens, Ga.--Georgia, the defending national champion, advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament with a homecourt 4-0 victory over Auburn on Sunday.

Auburn, which is ranked No. 35 nationally, fell to 11-13 to close the season while Georgia improved to 23-3 in the match at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

“This was a close match and you have to look inside the match at the two tiebreakers in the first set with Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz in singles and the final doubles going down to it at 8-6,” said Auburn coach Eric Shore. “Terence Nugent took his match to three, Pawel Dilaj played two tough sets and Lukas Marsoun really battled in his match. We gave them a battle and you have to look outside of the 4-0 score to see it.

“I thought we battled today,” Shore added. “We had our chance in doubles and that is what you have to do, you have to put the favorite in a position where they feel you coming. We read about their contest to see who could finish the match first and we took it to heart a little bit and we battled them extremely hard all day.”

The Bulldogs opened the match with Travis Helgeson and Christian Vitulli taking an 8-2 vs. Auburn’s Marsoun and Milan Krnjetin. Auburn even the match with Dilaj and Puetz taking an 8-4 win vs. Luis Flores and Javier Garrapiz. At No. 1 doubles, UGA’s Hunt and Scnugg took an 8-6 win over Tysrenov and Nugent to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.

Christian Vitulli defeated Krnjetin 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 6 singles match to make the score 2-0. At one singles, the nation’s fourth-ranked player, Travis Helgeson, defeated No. 27 Tsyrenov 7-6, 6-3. At four singles Jamie Hunt closed out the match with a 7-5, 6-3 with over Dilaj.

“I thought had a really good effort today, I’m proud of our guys and I’m looking forward to next year,” said Shore, whose team defeated Wake Forest in the first round of NCAA play. “Our seniors, Pawel Dilaj and Terence Nugent, played really well today and they went out on a good note.”

Ysyrenov will compete as an individual for the Tigers at the NCAA Men’s Singles Championships that run May 21-26 in Tulsa, Okla.

Game Of My Life Auburn

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