Auburn Men's Tennis had a tri- umphant weekend in Blacksburg, Va.
The Tigers swept the compe- tition in the Hokie Challenge, a 3-day tournament with eight sin- gles flights, as well as four doubles flights.
"It was a good weekend for us," said Gabor Zoltan Pelva, assistant coach of the men's tennis team. "We have a lot of new players this year, this was a great time for them to show us what they really can do."
Auburn's No. 23 team won sev- en of the 12 matches against No. 27 Virginia Tech in a nail-biting match-up.
The Tigers tied the Hokies in the doubles flights, winning two of four matches.
The talented doubles team, ranked sixth in the nation, com- posed of junior Tim Puetz and sophomore Alex Stamchev, topped Virginia Tech's Will Beck and Pat- rick Daciek, 8-6.
"I think we did pretty good in doubles," Stamchev said. "Along with Tim, I played well and we won."
The powerful duo have been cho- sen to lead a team consisting of seven freshmen.
Ranked No. 24 in singles in the nation according to the ITA poll, Puetz finished the tournament un- defeated.
Stamchev, ranked No. 86, battled Luka Somen in singles, but fell in two sets and lost, 6-4, 7-6.
"I could have probably won (the singles match), but it was alright," Stamchev said. "Now I know what I need to improve for next week."
Also picking up a win in doubles
were Alexander Sajonz and Michel Monteiro.
The couple swept Trpimir Kujun- dzic and Zach Pine, 8-6.
Freshmen competing in doubles were Andreas Mies with Oliver Strecker and Tim Hewitt with Lu- cas Lopasso.
Mies and Strecker struggled and were taken out by YoAnn Re and Sebastien Jacques, 8-5.
Hewitt and Lopasso also lost to Corrado Degl'Incerti Tocci and Luka Somen, 8-5.
"We need to focus more on dou- bles, definitely.," Pelva said. "That's our goal right now. We are very tal- ented but we need to work hard in order to improve for next week."
Auburn won five of the eight sin- gles matches against the Hokies, and Puetz defeated Re in a quick two-set win, 6-3, 6-1. Sajonz, a true freshman from Sweden, was suc- cessful in both his doubles as well as his singles division.
Sajonz beat Pine, 6-3, 6-4. Mies won, defeating Daciek 6-4, 6-0, while Strecker won the match against Lucas Oliveria, 6-3, 6-2.
"We did pretty good," Puetz said. "Considering that they are all fresh- men, they did very well. We were all surprised."
Competitors Hewitt, Lopasso and junior Nick Maurillo each played three-set matches against Virginia Tech. Hewitt beat Tocci in a 3-set match, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
While both Lopasso and Mau- rillo were defeated by Beck, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, and Kujundzic, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6, re- spectively.
"At this tournament, we showed that we can compete," Pelva said. "The freshmen did very well. We have a great season ahead of us."
The Tigers will participate in the National Indoor Qualifier in Tusca- loosa Saturday and Sunday.
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