FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? It was truly a senior day at the Southeastern Conference Championships for University of Kentucky men?s tennis team captain Marcus Sundh as he clinched the decisive match point for the No. 43 Wildcats over the No. 30 Tigers of Auburn University 4-2 at the University of Arkansas? Billingsley Tennis Center Thursday afternoon.
Playing in his last SEC tournament, Sundh posted a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Auburn?s Lukas Marsoun at No. 3 singles to seal the victory for the Cats. Sundh earned an early break then coasted to the first set win. In the second stanza, Sundh again went up a break leading 4-1 but Marsoun battled back to close to within 5-4 before the Wildcat served out the match.
?This was just how you would script it,? UK head coach Dennis Emery said, ?with our senior captain, Marcus, winning the match for us. He has done a great job leading our team over the last two years, so it was fitting to see him serve out the match and get the win for us.
?I think we played one of our best matches of the year. We have improved throughout the year but our results don?t necessarily reflect that. Auburn is a great team outdoors, so that speaks to how well we played today. I think winning the doubles point was the key to the match.?
The No. 48 tandem of junior Bruno Agostinelli and freshman Brad Cox battled Auburn?s Terrence Nugent and Alexey Tsyrenov at the No.1 doubles slot. The Cats? duo had beaten the Tigers earlier in the year in a tiebreak during a home match. This time, the Kentucky pairing won without extra games, 8-6 to start the Cats off on the right foot.
At No. 2 doubles, UK junior Shane Collins and freshman Will Beck faced a different match-up than a month ago as Pawel Dilaj and Tim Puetz took the court for Auburn. Beck and Collins finished up right after court one, defeating the Tigers 8-5 and clinching the doubles point for the Cats for a 1-0 UK lead.
Sundh and sophomore Alex Lambropoulos were closing out their match at the No. 3 position when the point was clinched on court two. The Wildcats led 7-6 over Auburn?s Marsoun and Milan Krnjetin.
The Cats improve to 8-2 on the season when winning the doubles point.
?Going in we thought we had a good shot at winning at doubles one and three,? Emery said. ?On two we weren?t sure how it would go because Beck has been injured since the Vanderbilt match and hadn?t practiced all week. But he played great today and together they were the difference in our match today. I thought Collins played his best doubles match of his career at Kentucky.?
In singles play, Auburn evened the match at 1-1 after Puetz defeated Cox in straight sets.
After clinching the match against Auburn last month in the number five slot, freshman Alberto Gonzalez stepped up to play at No. 4 singles in place of the previously-injured Beck. Facing Tiger Terence Nugent, Gonzalez used a break to win the first set 6-4. In the next set Gonzalez ratcheted up his play to jump out to a 4-1 lead and continued to roll by winning the next two games for the straight-set win. As a result, Kentucky led 2-1.
Auburn knotted the match score up again at 2-2 after a victory on court five. Dilaj found his stride early against Collins en route to a 6-1 first set win. In the second set, Collins raised his game but Dilaj was able to fend the Wildcat off 6-3.
No. 26 Agostinelli came up big again at No. 1 singles with another straight-set defeat of Auburn?s top player, No. 35 Tsyrenov. After an even first half of the first set, Agostinelli used a late break to go up 5-3 in the first set and then closed it out in the next game. The Wildcat continued to put pressure on Tsyrenov to go up another break early in the second for a 4-1 showing. Agostinelli wrapped up the next two games for the impressive win to put UK up 3-2 in the match.
The lone contest to not finish was at No. 6 singles as Lambropoulos faced Auburn?s Alex Petropoulos. The namesakes battled back and forth through a tight first set that went to a tiebreak. In the breaker, the opponents were so precise that there were four changeovers in a 26-point affair. Petropoulos came out on top 14-12 to win the first set 7-6. The foes had just begun the second set when Sundh wrapped up the match for the Cats.
With the win, the Cats improve to 12-14 overall and 4-8 in the SEC. Auburn falls to 10-12 this year and 4-8 in the league. Kentucky returns to action tomorrow to face the second-seeded Ole Miss Rebels – the No. 6 team in the nation.
?We have played some really good matches against Ole Miss,? Emery said. ?They are clearly one of the best teams in the country and have been for the last 10 years. They always compete very hard and are well-coached. They do not have any real weaknesses on their team so if you compete well against Ole Miss; you are a team to be reckoned with.?
Opening serve against the Rebels is slated for 11:30 a.m. Friday at Arkansas? Billingsley Tennis Center.
Live stats and a match recap will be available on UKathletics.com.
#43 Kentucky 4, #30 Auburn 2
Singles
1. #26 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. #35 Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 6-3, 6-1
2. #80 Tim Puetz, (AU) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-1, 6-1
3. Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 6-1, 6-4
4. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Terrence Nugent (AU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Shane Collins (UK) 6-1, 6-3
6. Alex Petropoulos (AU) led Alex Lambropoulos (UK) 7-6(12), 1-0 susp.
Doubles
1. #48 Bruno Agostinelli/Brad Cox (UK) def. Terrence Nugent/Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 8-6
2. Will Beck/Shane Collins (UK) def. Pawel Dilaj/Tim Puetz (AU) 8-6
3. Alex Lambropoulos/Marcus Sundh (UK) led Milan Krnjetin/Lukas Marsoun (AU) 7-6 susp.
