AU ROUNDUP: Men’s tennis knocked out by Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The No. 19 Auburn men’s tennis team drew its season to a close Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 loss to No. 16 Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The team season ends with the loss. However, the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament will include Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz and will take place May 20-25.

Auburn started the day by nearly taking the early lead. The 10th-ranked pair of Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz coasted to an 8-2 victory over Florida State’s Jean-Yves Aubone and Vahid Mirzadeh, the No. 20 duo in the nation.

The Seminoles evened the doubles spread as No. 71 Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut topped Auburn’s No. 78 pair, Lukas Marsoun and Alex Stamchev, 8-5.

Florida State then took the point when Chris Cloer and Clint Bowles rallied after being down 3-7 to defeat Milan Krnjetin and Michel Monteiro, 9-7, on court three.

“I think we should have won the double point serving two breaks up and they fought back,” head coach Eric Shore noted. “Florida State fought back and they did a good job. We should have closed out that doubles point but we did not and it gave them some momentum.”

Finding themselves at an early disadvantage, the Tigers were unable slow the Florida State momentum. The Seminoles took quick wins on courts three and six as Maciek Sykut topped Marsoun, 6-2, 6-1, and Chris Cloer defeated Alex Petropoulos, 6-1, 6-4, respectively.

With Florida State within one point of the win, the Tigers made their first mark on the board. Sophomore No. 108 Puetz earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over the No. 58-ranked Clint Bowles to notch Auburn’s lone point.

The Seminoles clinched the match with a court five win with Drew Bailey defeating Krnjetin in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

“They carried their momentum over and they were the better team in singles,” said Shore. “They deserved to win today, but I don’t think we played amazing. We should not have lost the doubles point but that’s what happened and (Florida State) did a good job so I give them credit.”

The final match-ups of the day involving Tsyrenov and Stamchev went unfinished as Florida State had already taken the match.

The Tigers end their season at 14-11, while Florida State will continue in the NCAA Tournament with a 21-8 mark. The loss marked the third consecutive year in which the Tigers have ended the year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We are losing a big group of seniors this year and this was their last chance,” Shore noted. “We’ll have two of our main contributors, Tim (Puetz) and (Alex) Stamchev, next year along with Nick Maurillo, who was a medical red-shirt this season. Hopefully they will learn from this experience. The guys that we bring in, along with our returners, have to build on this and gain more experience for next year.”

With the team dual match season at a close for Auburn, Tsyrenov continues his senior season as he will participate in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships singles division. He and Puetz, currently ranked as the No. 10 duo in the nation, will also participate in the doubles competition.

Track posts 3 qualifying times
The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams sent 11 individuals to compete this weekend at either the Georgia Invitational and the Seminole Twilight hosted by Florida State, in an attempt for those individuals to post first-time NCAA regional qualifying marks or improve existing regional qualifying marks.

The Tigers added three new regional qualifiers while improving one other regional mark Saturday.

At Florida State, freshman Jeff Sanders earned his first regional qualifying mark, finishing third in the men’s 1500 meters with a time of 3:47.57. Junior Scott Novack placed sixth in 3:52.92. Sophomore Latoya Parkinson also regionally qualified for the first time this year, finishing second overall and first among collegians in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.05.

Freshman Julian Matthews just missed the regional mark in the 800 meters of 1:50.40, finishing fourth in 1:50.85. In the women’s 400 meters, freshman CeCe Williams was second in 55.53 seconds, also just missing the regional cut.

Also for Auburn, junior Sabrina Fischer was second in the women’s 800 meters (2:13.78), freshman Ben Cheryiout was second in the men’s 5,000 meters (14:44.80) and sophomore Gerard Brown was fourth in the men’s triple jump (14.03 meters, 46-0.5).

At the Georgia Invitational, freshman Wesley Wright earned his first NCAA regional qualifying mark in the men’s hammer throw, finishing third overall and first among collegians with a mark of 58.75 meters (192-9).

Sophomore Zach Clayton improved his regional qualifying mark in the men’s discus, posting a mark of 56.02 meters (183-9) while placing second overall and first among collegians. Junior Eric Werskey was third in both the shot put (17.74 meters, 58-2.5) and the discus (53.29 meters, 174-10), posting regional qualifying marks in both events, although he was not able to improve his season-best marks.

The Tigers will compete at the SEC Outdoor Championships next Thursday through Sunday in Gainesville, Fla.

Women’s golf finishes 10th at regional
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The fifth-ranked Auburn women’s golf team carded a 15-over-par 295 in the final round of the 2009 NCAA East Regional Championship to finish 10th overall, missing the cut to advance to the NCAA Championship.

Junior Candace Schepperle was the top finisher for the Tigers, posting a 5-over 75 in the final round to finish in a tie for eighth.

Hosted by the University of Florida, the NCAA East Regional was a 54-hole stroke play event held at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The par-70 course played at 6,023 yards for the tournament. At the conclusion of the tournament, the top eight teams advanced to the NCAA Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.

“We are obviously disappointed with how the season ended today,” said Auburn head coach Kim Evans. “But, we had a great season this year and we can take a lot of positives away from it. We have a young team and we did some big things like winning three tournaments in the regular season, along with some great individual accomplishments. I am excited for what the future holds.”

Advancing to NCAAs out of the East Regional was top-finisher Denver with a 22-over-par 862. The Pioneers carded the low final round with a 1-under-par 279 on Saturday. Southeastern Conference members Alabama (866) and Tennessee (873)  finished second and third, respectively, with top overall seed Virginia in fourth with a 34-over 874.

Tulane finished fifth with a 36-over-par 876, followed by Duke and North Carolina in a tie for seventh with 41-over 881s. Georgia snagged the final spot of those advancing to NCAAs, carding a 17-over 297 in the final round to finish eighth with a 49-over 889.

Auburn finished just four strokes out of Georgia and moved up two spots in the rankings after entering the final round in a tie for 12th.

Individually for the Tigers, Birmingham native Schepperle led the way after finishing in a tie for eighth with a 6-over-par 216. Freshman Haley Wilson, a native of Ft. Mitchell, carded the low final round for the team as she posted a 2-under-par 68. She moved up 36 places in the rankings to finish the tournament in a tie for 23rd at 10-over-par 220.

“Candace has played so well for us this season and throughout this tournament, I am very proud of her for what she has done,” said Evans. “Haley Wilson has definitely been the key to a lot of the good things we have done this spring and she showed why today. She is only a freshman and she had a 68 in the NCAA Regionals, she has such a bright future ahead of her.”

Fellow freshman Patricia Sanz (Madrid, Spain) was next in line for Auburn, finishing the three-day tournament in a tie for 46th with a 14-over-par 224. She tied with Schepperle in the final round with a 5-over 75 on Saturday. Sophomore Cydney Clanton (Concord, N.C.) finished fourth for the Tigers, carded a final-round 77 to finish the tournament in a tie for 80th at 23-over 233.

Sophomore Sara Thead (Poway, Calif.) rounded out the Auburn lineup as she finished in a tie for 90 with a 28-over-par 238, carding a 79 in the final round.

Denver’s Dawn Shockley earned medalist honors for the tournament. She carded the low round of the tournament as she came in with a 4-under 66 on Saturday, finishing the event with a 1-under-par 209. She was one of three Pioneers in the top 10 for the victorious Denver team, joining Katie Kempter and Stephanie Sherlock.

The 10th-place finish in the NCAA Regional Championship signifies the end of the season for the Tigers. All five golfers in Auburn’s lineup are expected to return for the 2009-10 season.

Women’s tennis falls to Florida State
GAINESVILLE, Fla — The No. 33 Auburn women’s tennis team (11-13, 3-7 SEC) fell, 4-0, to the No. 18 Florida State Seminoles (17-7, 7-4 ACC) on Saturday morning in NCAA Championship first round action at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. 

The NCAA berth was the sixth overall for Auburn, and the third consecutive invite for head coach Tim Gray, who is in only his fourth year on the Plains.

The Seminoles took the doubles point with wins from the twos and threes, leaving the No. 1 doubles match unfinished.  The No. 3 matchup between Auburn’s Fani Chifchieva and Taylor Schreimann and Florida State’s Lauren Macfarlane concluded first with an, 8-1, Seminole advantage.  Tigers Myrthe Molenveld and Daniella Vukadinovic fell to Jessica Sucupira and Bonny Davidson in the No. 2 matchup, 8-2.

“We thought our chances were good, but we came out slow in doubles and they were able to capitalize on the momentum,” said Gray. “I thought we were able to neutralize things a little bit early on in singles, but Florida State did a good job of managing the momentum.”

The contest between Auburn’s Whitney Chappell and Alex Haney with Florida State’s Frederica Suess and Katie Rybakova ended unsettled, with the Seminole duo leading, 7-5. 

Florida State clinched the matchup with three consecutive wins in singles play, advancing to the second round of NCAAs for a meeting with host Florida, who knocked out the College of Charleston with a first round score of 4-1.

“We’ve only been to the NCAA Tournament six times as a program, but three times since I’ve been here,” said Gray. “I definitely think we are headed in the right direction and I am proud of the direction that our program is going in. We’ve got a good recruiting class coming in next year. I really think our kids are starting to turn the corner.”