LEXINGTON, Ky. ? A total team effort by the No. 63 University of Kentucky men?s tennis team led the Cats to their biggest victory so far this season, a 4-3 decision over No. 22 Auburn. Freshman Alberto Gonzalez clinched the deciding point for UK at the No. 5 singles slot with a three-set victory ? just one of the impressive Wildcat performances at Boone Tennis Complex Sunday afternoon.
Pressure was building as Kentucky led 3-2 with only two matches left to be completed. Gonzalez cruised through the first set 6-1 then lost the momentum in the second as Auburn?s Pawel Dilaj rolled off his own 6-1 set win. After a 1-1 tie in the third, Gonzalez rattled off three consecutive games to take the lead at 4-1. With both teams rooting their players on, Dilaj and Gonzalez each held serve before the UK freshman broke the Tiger to clinch a three-set win and the deciding match point for the Cats.
?I thought (Gonzalez) was fantastic in the third set,? UK head coach Dennis Emery said. ?He came forward and served better. The guy he beat is a great competitor. It is the first time (Gonzalez) has been in that situation during a big match to clinch. There is no pressure like representing your university in front of your fans and teammates. It is intense and I think for him to come through like that showed a lot of character on his part.?
The beginning of the match provided as much drama as the conclusion.
The Cats? new doubles tandem of sophomore Alex Lambropoulos and senior Marcus Sundh started UK off in the right direction with a decisive 8-3 decision at the No. 3 position over Dilaj and partner Milan Krnjetin. Auburn battled back at No. 2 as Lukas Marsoun and Tim Puetz bettered UK?s Will Beck and Shane Collins. With a win in the pocket of both teams, the doubles point came down to the No. 1 slot.
Junior Bruno Agostinelli and freshman Brad Cox battled Auburn?s Terrence Nugent and Alexey Tsyrenov in a back-and-forth match. Neither team led by more than two games before the match went 8-all into a tiebreaker. The Cats earned a mini-break of the Tigers and then held serve to go out to an early 3-0 lead. After Auburn scored its first point of the tiebreak, UK rattled off two more for a 5-1 lead at the changeover. The teams alternated points on the next four serves to give the Cats the 7-3 tiebreak and win, clinching the doubles point in the process.
The Cats improve to 4-1 on the season when winning the doubles point.
?I thought we played great in doubles,? Emery said. ?We knew going in that when Auburn wins the doubles point they win the match something like 90 percent of the time. I thought we played great. Alex Lambropoulos played at a higher level today in doubles and was the difference in the match.?
In singles play, Auburn evened the match at 1-1 after Puetz defeated Cox in straight sets.
No. 48 Agostinelli came up big again at No. 1 singles beating a ranked player for the second consecutive match and third time this season. At 4-4 in the first set, Agostinelli broke the serve of No. 35 Tsyrenov to go up 5-4 and later held serve to secure the set 6-4. In the second set, Agostinelli scored a break again at 2-2 to go ahead 3-2 and then used the momentum to rattle off the next three games for the straight-set-win.
At No. 4 singles, Beck played perhaps his best tennis of the season in a tight three-set match with Nugent. The freshman powered out to a 6-4 win in the first set before Nugent evened the match winning the second 6-2. Trailing 4-3, Beck gutted out an amazing 24-point game to even the third set at four games all. The two went into extra games after knotting at 5-5, but Nugent broke serve to earn the comeback victory 7-5 in the third and even the team points at 2-2.
Sundh also went three sets in his match at No. 3 singles. The captain lost the first set 6-4 to Marsoun but battled back in the second to win 6-3. In the third, the foes held their first service games before Sundh went up a break in game four and then extended his lead to 4-1. Both players held serve to give the senior a 5-2 lead. But the Tiger came back with a break of his own and fought to even the match at 5-5. With his teammates cheering him on from the next court, Sundh held serve to go up 6-5 before breaking Marsoun for the 7-5 victory.
Collins battled Auburn?s Alex Petropoulos at No. 6 singles. The Tiger used an early break to win the first set 6-3. But Collins fed off the energy of the crowd to push Petropoulos in the second set to 6-6 after a furious rally. On the next court, Gonzalez wrapped up his match taking the pressure off of Collins. But the junior battled through a tiebreak nonetheless, winning two points to force a changeover at six points apiece. However, Petropoulos won the next two points to earn the Tigers last point of the day.
?Auburn is a really good team,? Emery said. ?They were 3-2 in the SEC after playing a difficult schedule early in the season. I think they are very good mentally.
?I thought we took the match from them today. That?s something we have not done throughout the course of the season. At key points in the match we needed to step up and become a little more aggressive, take it to them and we did that today.?
With the win, the Cats improve to 7-9 overall and 2-4 in the Southeastern Conference standings while Auburn?s loss evens its conference ledger at 3-3 and makes the Tigers 9-7 overall. No. 22 Auburn is the highest-ranked opponent that Kentucky has defeated this season.
Kentucky continues its five-match home stand Tuesday when it hosts No. 32 Notre Dame at Boone Tennis Complex with first serve at 2:00 p.m. ET.
#63 Kentucky 4, #22 Auburn 3
Singles
1. #48 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. #35 Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #114 Tim Puetz, (AU) def. Brad Cox (UK) 6-2, 6-1
3. Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Terrence Nugent (AU) def. Will Beck (UK) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
5. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Pawel Dilaj (AU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
6. Alex Petropoulos (AU) def. Shane Collins (UK) 6-3, 7-6(6)
Doubles
1. Bruno Agostinelli/Brad Cox (UK) def. Terrence Nugent/Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 9-8(3)
2. Lukas Marsoun/Tim Puetz (AU) def. Will Beck/Shane Collins (UK) 8-6
3. Alex Lambropoulos/Marcus Sundh (UK) def. Pawel Dilaj/Milan Krnjetin (AU) 8-3
