LEXINGTON, Ky.?The University of Kentucky men?s tennis team, dropped a 5-2 decision to visiting Auburn tonight at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
No. 37 Auburn (7-1, 1-0) prevailed with five wins in singles action to overcome No. 38 Kentucky (6-5, 0-1), in the first night of Southeastern Conference action.
?I thought it was a great college match,? said Coach Dennis Emery. ?We were certainly sorry to lose another close match, but I thought we played great in doubles tonight.?
Kentucky got things off to a fast start taking the doubles point from Auburn. The No. 1 doubles tandem of sophomores Bruno Agostinelli and Kenny Hodge fought back from a 7-4 deficit to win the doubles point for UK, after rallying for a 9-7 win.
No. 1 doubles was where the clinching point was won, thanks to the No. 2 duo of senior Peter Bjork and junior Marcus Sundh who picked up and 8-5 decision to give the Wildcats the early edge.
Auburn fired back immediately with a win at No. 4 singles. The Tigers? Milan Krnjetin defeated freshman Roman Ogarkov in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, to even the score at 1-1.
Bjork answered to pull Kentucky back ahead 2-1 with his sixth consecutive singles win over Alexey Tsyrenov. The two battled back and forth in the first set, before Bjork took a 6-4 victory. The Wildcat jumped all over Tsyrenov in the second set, handedly beating him 6-1 for the Kentucky advantage.
?I thought Peter played his best match of the season tonight,? said Emery. ?We just couldn?t finish it out in the last matches.?
Agostinelli fell in a three-set thriller to Robert Lathouwers. It was the first loss for Agostinelli in six matches. The Wildcat jumped out in the first set taking it 6-4. Lathouwers then would follow with a 6-3 win of his own, and take the point 6-4 in the third set. The win at No. 1 for Auburn, pulled the Tigers even 2-2 with three singles matches left.
Auburn pulled ahead 3-2, after freshman Jorge Jorge fell in straight sets to Pawel Dilaj, 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
The match point was decided at No. 6 singles, as Auburn?s Terrence Nugent claimed a straight set win over Hodge, 7-5, 6-1, to win the match for the Tigers.
Despite Sundh?s valiant comeback effort he fell in a third-set tiebreaker, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3). Sundh fell behind after the first set and then forced a third set with a win in the second. The Stockholm, Sweden, native rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to force the deciding tiebreaker, despite the match already haven been won by Auburn.
Both teams were without one of their top players. Junior Will Ward did not suit up for the Wildcats, while No. 42 Alex Schweizer did not play for the Tigers.
Kentucky next hosts No. 26 Alabama and the match is slated to begin on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. Complete results and live stats of the day?s coverage can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
#37 Auburn 5, vs. #38 Kentucky 2
SINGLES:
No. 1 Robert Lathouwers (AU) def. #73 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 Peter Bjork (UK) def. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 3 Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)
No. 4 Milan Krnjetin (AU) def. Roman Ogarkov (UK) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Jorge Jorge (UK) 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 Terence Nugent (AU) def. Kenny Hodge (UK) 7-5, 6-1
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 3
DOUBLES:
No. 1 Bruno Agostinelli/Kenny Hodge (UK) def. Robert Lathouwers/Lukas Marsoun (AU) 9-7
No. 2 Peter Bjork/Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Alexey Tsyrenov/Milan Krnjetin (AU) 8-5
No. 3 Pawel Dilaj/Terence Nugent (AU) def. Shane Collins/Roman Ogarkov (UK) 8-7 (7-3)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
