Auburn men's tennis team, ranked 21, defeated UAB 6-1 at their match Sunday, Feb. 3, at George Ward Park in Birmingham.
The Tigers came back to win after their only loss of the season last Sunday against 11th-ranked Mississippi State.
"I think we played fairly well," said Auburn Coach Eric Shore. "Tough conditions: it was very windy and the courts were quicker courts. So it was a little difficult to start, but we had gone up there on Saturday and got a hit in. So getting that hit in and playing doubles first, I thought we came out a little slow but we adjusted and played well at the match as the day progressed."
Auburn won the doubles point after some close matches, according to Shore. It came down to three doubles. Tigers won one double and lost at two doubles. When it came down to three doubles, they we were down 1-4 then 2-5 and we were able to pull it out.
"We did a good job there, but it was pretty close in doubles," Shore said. "I think in singles we played a bit better as the day progressed."
Senior Andreas Mies won in straight sets 6-2 and 6-4. He had a tough match and he handled it well. He got better and he's getting better. He's not where he wants to be, but he's getting closer, Shore said.
Sophomore Lukas Ollert continued to play well, according to Shore. He won a tough match. He's playing well and stepping up. Ollert is undefeated in singles this Spring.
"I played against a friend of mine," Ollert said. "I played very good the first set I won 6-1. I was up 5-3 in the second. I kind of struggled with winning the match, I don't know why, and it got really close. I lost the second set. Then the tie breaker... It was a really close match and it shouldn't have been that close."
Senior Michael Wardell also won for the tigers 6-2 and 6-3. Wardell said, the men fought very hard and that he thought UAB came ready for the match.
"We have a guy that played here last year that played there and he was ready," Wardell said. "One of our old teammate's brother plays for them, so I feel like they brought all they had and we really had to play well to beat them, and we did."
Auburn is headed to California this weekend to San Diego State next Saturday and Fresno State on Sunday. After that, the Tigers are facing Georgia Tech and Clemson at home, and they hope to beat Mississippi State in a rematch at home in a month.
"I know that we've got to continue to improve and get better because it's going to get tougher next weekend," Shore said. "We have Georgia Tech and Clemson at home: two ACC matches. Then we start the SEC, so we've got some work to do and we are running out of time. It's getting closer to conference time which is really make-or-break you."
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