Alabama
Arkansas
Men's Tennis Wins SEC Opener at Arkansas 6-1
3/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 6, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The 20th-ranked men's tennis team opened up SEC play with a 6-1 win at No. 56 Arkansas on Friday at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center. With the win, the Crimson Tide improves to 10-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play, while the Razorbacks fall to 6-4 overall and 0-1 in league matches.
"This was one of those matches that could have gone either way," said head coach Billy Pate. "We were up 3-1 but with three matches in the third set, so it was tight. We had some experienced guys in those positions to finish the job. I give a lot of credit to Arkansas. They are a very good team and gave us all we could handle. It's important we get ready for the trip to Baton Rouge and another difficult road test against LSU on Sunday."
Alabama got off to a solid start securing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. First off the court was senior Andrew Felsenthal and freshman Ricky Doverspike, playing on court 3, with an 8-3 victory over junior Bradwin Williams and sophomore Tyler Tarnasky. Grabbing the doubles point at the No. 1 position was the combination of seniors Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau who defeated the 60th-ranked pair of senior Blake Strode and sophomore Matthew Hogan 8-4. Court two came down to the wire, and eventually went in favor of Arkansas as the junior/sophomore duo of Dmitry Lebedev and Christopher Nott edged senior Billy Mertz and junior Saketh Myneni 8-7.
The Tide got a pair of quick wins in singles to jump out to a 3-0 lead from Buikema and Doverspike. Buikema, playing at No. 4, took a commanding 6-3, 6-1 victory from Lebedev before Doverspike took care of business at No. 6 with a 6-2, 6-4 win against freshman Nikolas Zogaj. The Razorbacks earned their first point of the afternoon at No. 3 as Nott beat Mertz 6-3, 6-2. The remaining three matches all were forced to a decisive third set. The trio of third sets began at relatively the same time, but it was senior Michael Jung who finished first and clinched the win for Alabama with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 5 against Tarnasky. Next off the court with a huge win at No. 1 was Myneni who defeated 15th-ranked Blake Strode 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Thibaudeau wrapped things up with another big win beating No. 120 Matthew Hogan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 at No. 2.
Alabama returns to the court Sunday, March 8 when it travels to No. 30 LSU. The match begins at 1:00 p.m. (CST).
RESULTS
Doubles
1. Mathieu Thibaudeau/Dan Buikema (UA) def. No. 60 Matthew Hogan/Blake Strode (AR) 8-4
2. Dmitry Lebedev/Christopher Nott (AR) def. No. 27 Saketh Myneni/Billy Mertz (UA) 8-7
3. Andrew Felsenthal/Ricky Doverspike (UA) def. Tyler Tarnasky/Bradwin Williams (AR) 8-3
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
Singles
1. No. 66 Saketh Myneni (UA) def. No. 15 Blake Strode (AR) 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
2. No. 114 Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. No. 120 Matthew Hogan (AR) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
3. Christopher Nott (AR) def. Billy Mertz (UA) 6-3, 6-2
4. Dan Buikema (UA) def. Dmitry Lebedev (AR) 6-3, 6-1
5. Michael Jung (UA) def. Tyler Tarnasky (AR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. Ricky Doverspike (UA) def. Nikolas Zogaj (AR) 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 4,6,3,5*,1,2
Players Mentioned
