Last weekend was a long one for the No. 39 Auburn Men's Tennis team, as it dropped its 11th match this season 5-2 to Mississippi State in Starkville Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers struggled from the beginning in doubles play as redshirt junior Nick Maurillo and junior Michel Montiero fell to Bulldogs Louis Cant and Chris Doerr 8-4. Freshmen Tim Hewitt and Lucas Lopasso next lost to Daniel Sanchez and Tanner Stump, also 8-4.
In the No. 1 doubles contest, junior Tim Puetz and sophomore Alex Stamchev tied George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin with a score of 7, but couldn't walk away with the tiebreaking point.
"We need to improve in doubles," Puetz said. "We're getting better, but we need to get doubles points. It's hard to win matches in the SEC while being down 1-0, so we definitely need to focus on that. I've had a few lapses, so I need to be more consistent."
Moving into singles play, MSU's Antonio Lastre defeated freshman Oliver Strecker in two sets, 6-4, 6-1, in the No. 5 spot. Stamchev then dropped the No. 3 singles competition to Coupland, 6-4, 6-3.
"Sunday I wasn't very happy with our performance in either singles or doubles," said Auburn coach Eric Shore. "I felt like we didn't have our best day. Tim Puetz continues to do a good job. Even though Alex Stamchev lost he's had a very good year for us, so some of our other guys have to step up."
Lopasso topped Max Gregor Smith in No. 4 singles to give Auburn a point, but MSU's Daniel Sanchez dropped freshman Andreas Mies in two sets, 6-4, 6-2. The points secured the Bulldog win.
"I think we had chances to win that we didn't capitalize on," Puetz said. "I think we're getting better and better compared to the beginning of the season, but we need to get a win this weekend and then get a win at the SEC so we can move on into the NCAA tournament."
Ending the competition was a set of singles matches.
Puetz was able to end the day on a high note as he faced off against Cant, first winning 6-1 and then falling 7-6. This prompted a tiebreaker third set, which Puetz managed to win 1-0.
"Our guys know what it takes to win on the road and at home," Puetz said. "We're more competitive now. If we can get into the NCAA, we should have it all together and be good enough to play there."
Hewitt next stepped up in singles against Ilyushin, first losing 6-2 and then winning the second set 6-3. Ilyushin returned, however, to take the final stage 6-3 and win the match.
The Tigers head across state to take on Alabama Saturday at 5 p.m. at the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium. The No. 29 Crimson Tide enter the match 11-11, 4-6 SEC, and are coming off a busy week after playing both UAB and Samford on the road Wednesday evening.
The match will mark Auburn's final regular season match before the SEC Tournament commences April 22.
"Honestly, we're just looking ahead to Saturday when we head to Alabama," Shore said. "We haven't even thought about the SEC at this point. Our position in the NCAA is a little more precarious, so we're just taking each match as it comes along."
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