April 29, 2008

NCAA Tournament Central

AUBURN - The No. 35 Auburn men's tennis team earned its ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and is set to face No. 28 Wake Forest in the first round, the NCAA announced on Tuesday. For the second year in a row, the Tigers advance to the NCAA Regional in Athens, Ga., and will face the Demon Deacons on Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m. ET at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

The NCAA Tournament berth is the 16th overall for Auburn and the 14th in the last 15 years.

"We thought that this was a bit of a re-building year for us, so it is nice to make the NCAA Tournament again," said head coach Eric Shore. "We played an extremely tough schedule this year and I thought we sputtered a bit down the stretch, but we've had some time off and are looking good."

The Tigers currently hold a 10-12 record (4-7 in SEC play) after falling to Kentucky, 4-2, in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Fayetteville, Ark. Wake forest enters the NCAA Tournament with a 17-10 overall record and a semifinal appearance in the ACC Tournament, falling to No. 1-ranked Virginia, 4-1. The Demon Deacons posted a 7-4 ACC mark.

"We play an extremely tough Wake Forest team, coming out of a very strong conference in the ACC, and we look forward to playing them," said Shore. "We're happy to be back in the tournament again and hopefully we can keep it going and improve along the way."

Auburn holds a 3-3 record all-time against Wake Forest with the last meeting coming during the 1987 season. This will be Shore's first meeting against the ACC foe.

Auburn will be playing in familiar surroundings as it heads to the Athens, Ga. regional. This will mark the second year in a row and the fourth time overall for the Tigers in Athens after previously competing in NCAA Regionals there in 1998, 2004 and 2007.

"We know the place fairly well and we've played there a bunch, so from that standpoint it is a good spot for us," said Shore. "Sometimes you want to go someplace new where you don't know the surroundings, but playing in Athens will be familiar and it is close, so travel will not be a factor or anything."

Leading the Tigers into the NCAA Tournament will be All-SEC performers Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz. Tsyrenov, ranked 27th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, holds a 12-10 singles record on the season. Puetz, who is currently ranked 87th in the nation, sports a team-best 18-7 record heading into NCAAs.

"We've done well at the top of the lineup this year with Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz," said Shore. "They have both played extremely well, and Pawel Dilaj has picked up his play the past couple weeks, but we need some other guys to do that in order to have a chance against Wake Forest."

Auburn and Wake Forest open play at the NCAA Athens Regional with a 10 a.m. ET match on Saturday, May 10. No. 4 overall seed Georgia will follow in the second match with a 1 p.m. ET start against Radford.

The winners of the first-round matches will meet at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 11.

Fans can follow all the NCAA Regional Tournament action with live stats and live streaming video by accessing www.GeorgiaDogs.com. Tickets for First and Second Round NCAA Tournament matches will be available for purchase Wednesday, April 30, at 9 a.m. Fans can order tickets by logging on to www.georgiadogs.com or by calling 1-877-542-1231. Tickets will cost $5 for Adults, $3 for Youth (college-aged and younger).