March 27, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In what was the second meeting of the season between the two schools, Vanderbilt’s 49th-ranked men’s tennis team was unable to avenge its season-opening loss to No. 22 Auburn on Friday, falling 5-2, to the Tigers at the Currey Tennis Center.
The loss dropped Vanderbilt to 4-11 overall and 0-5 in the SEC, while Auburn improved to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. The two teams opened the season with Auburn defeating the Commodores 4-3 at the ITA Kick-off Weekend in Boise, Idaho.
Earning wins for the Commodores in singles play were Charlie Jones and Alex Zotov in the Nos. 5 and 6 singles positions, respectively. It marked the second straight match the two have posted wins. For Zotov, it was his sixth win in a row as he moved to 15-7 on the season and 5-0 in league play.
Both teams battled wet conditions throughout the match. Due to morning showers, the start of the match was delayed 30 minutes in order to dry the courts and allow a proper amount of warm-up time for both teams. Midway through singles play, the match was halted for 10 minutes as precipitation began to make the courts slick. The precipitation subsided enough that they were able to complete the match despite the occasional raindrop.
The weather conditions had no effect on the Tigers, who sprinted out of the gate and took the first two completed doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Auburn then won the first three completed singles matches to take a 4-0 lead and clinch the overall match.
With the match already in hand, Jones was able to get the Commodores on the scoreboard with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Auburn’s Milan Krnjetin in the No. 5 position.
Zotov gave the Commodores their second point of the match with a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3) win in the No. 6 singles position over Auburn’s Alex Petropoulos.
Vanderbilt will return to the courts on Sunday when the Commodores travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face No. 17 Alabama at 1 p.m. Vanderbilt defeated the Crimson Tide, 4-3, last season in Nashville.
