Men's Tennis At ITA Kick-Off Weekend In Tuscaloosa - AuburnTigers.com

Men's Tennis At ITA Kick-Off Weekend In Tuscaloosa Auburn faces Duke in the first round

Andreas Mies

Jan. 29, 2010

AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 22 Auburn men's tennis team heads to Tuscaloosa this weekend to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Alabama Varsity Tennis Stadium.

The nationally-ranked Tigers will face No. 18 Duke Saturday at 1 p.m. and then take on either No. 23 Arizona or No. 25 Alabama on Sunday.

DUKE BLUE DEVILS
The No. 18 Duke Blue Devils (1-0) are coming off a 7-0 win over Elon on Saturday at the Sheffield Tennis Center in Durham, N.C. Duke did not give up a set to the Phoenix during the match.

The Blue Devils have a trio of athletes among the ITA rankings. Henrique Cunha leads the squad and sits at No. 17 in the country, while Dylan Arnould is No. 62 and Torsten Wietoska is ranked No. 77 overall. Cunha and partner Reid Carleton stand at No. 8 in the national doubles rankings.

AUBURN AT HOKIE CHALLENGE
The Tigers competed in the three-day Hokie Challenge on the campus of Virginia Tech, Jan. 22-24, and had a successful start to the spring season. The Tigers took on Harvard Friday, Virginia Tech Saturday and Indiana on Sunday.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with weekend," head coach Eric Shore said. "The team competed well and we gained some experience for our younger guys. Our captain Tim Puetz had a great weekend going undefeated in both singles and doubles and has set a good example for rest of the team.

"There were a lot of positive things that came out this weekend, but we still have aspects to work on. However, I'm very encouraged for the future."

No. 24 Tim Puetz, a junior from Usingen, Germany, competed in Flight A and came away with a 3-0 mark. He and doubles partner Alex Stamchev won doubles Flight A after the No. 6 pair in the country also finished 3-0.

The squad featured five freshmen, four of whom were making their first collegiate appearances. Andreas Mies was named Flight D champion after winning all three of his matches, while Alexander Sajonz won his flight and finished undefeated.

Freshmen Oliver Strecker and Tim Hewitt each went 2-1, while freshman Lucas Lopasso was 1-2 on the weekend.

Also competing for the Tigers was redshirt junior Nick Maurillo and junior Michel Monteiro. Maurillo went 1-2 on the weekend in singles play, while Monteiro and partner Sajonz finished 2-0 in doubles competition.

UP NEXT
The Tigers open up the dual season on the road as the team heads to UAB to take on the Blazers in Birmingham. The match is set for 12 p.m. at the Lakeshore Tennis Center.