The No. 22 ranked Auburn men's tennis team fell short with a score of 4-3 to No. 13 Kentucky at the Yarbrough Tennis Center Sunday.
The loss makes Auburn 10-6 overall and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference and puts Kentucky at 13-5 and 3-3 in the SEC.
Auburn slipped in doubles, losing every match and giving Kentucky an early lead.
"We didn't have good energy in doubles today," said head tennis coach Eric Shore. "We've been very good all year, but for some reason today we did not do well."
Kentucky freshmen Graeme Dyce and Eric Quigley beat Auburn's doubles pair senior Lukas Marsoun and freshman Alex Stamchev 8-3.
Kentucky sophomore Alberto Gonzalez and freshman Alex Musialek sealed the doubles win for the Wildcats beating senior Milan Krnjetin and sophomore Michael Monteiro 8-5.
The final win in doubles for UK came from an 8-7 win by senior Bruno Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox over Auburn's senior Alexey Tsyrenov and sophomore Tim Puetz.
The match went to a tie-breaker, and UK claimed the 7-3 victory over Auburn.
"I don't think I gave it 100 percent today," Tsyrenov said. "I've been working with the coaches mentally and trying to stay calm and positive, but I was not all there today."
Singles matches were a different story.
Auburn came out tougher in singles after trailing to Kentucky in the first two singles matches.
Quigley was victorious over Marsoun 6-3, 6-2.
The second singles win came from Kentucky's Gonzalez over senior Alex Petropoulos 6-1, 6-3.
Auburn's two-seed, Tsyrenov, took a 7-5, 6-3 win over Kentucky's two-seed, Cox, keeping Kentucky from sweeping Auburn in singles and doubles.
Auburn's Stamchev took on Musialek and won 6-2, 7-6, followed by a tie-breaking 7-3 match.
Stamchev has won 11 of his last 12 matches, making him the most consistent player for Auburn.
"Stamchev has absolutely been a confidence-booster for the team," Shore said. "He has done great as a freshman and has been strong on courts four and five."
Stamchev agrees his performance has added something to the team.
"I think my consistency has brought confidence to the team," Stamchev said. "I did well today, but I still could have done better."
Auburn's Krnjetin tied up singles play with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 win over Dyce.
The match ultimately came down to a tie-breaking match with Puetz facing nationally ranked No. 5, Bruno Agostinelli. The match was the second Puetz has played since he took the No.1 spot for Auburn.
Nationally Puetz is ranked No. 106.
"Tim relaxed in his second match when he was up 4-0 and I think that's what cost him the match," Shore said. "That's what ultimately cost the team, but Tim gives us a chance every time he goes out there."
The Tigers will play in Athens tomorrow against the No. 3 ranked Bulldogs (12-5, 4-1 SEC), followed by another away match in Knoxville, Tenn., against the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers (15-3, 4-1 SEC) Sunday.
"We're very close to beating these top 15 teams, and we're moving in the right direction," Shore said.
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