No. 38 Alabama Men’s Tennis Bounces Back With 4-0 Win Over Auburn

Sunday, March 18

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 p.m. CT

Alabama

Auburn

No. 38 Alabama Men’s Tennis Bounces Back With 4-0 Win Over Auburn

3/18/2018 4:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery Match Results (PDF)

The Crimson Tide earned its first SEC win of the season with the victory on Sunday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 38 Alabama men's tennis team bounced back with a 4-0 shutout win over rival Auburn at the Alabama Tennis Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

"We certainly needed this win," said head coach George Husack. "As (Alabama) men's basketball experienced five losses in a row is a tough pill to swallow, but it creates some character in you and you really try to figure out what the problem is, but there really is no problem. It's just about guys continuing to believe and work hard and that's what we've done all week during Spring Break."

"We had a really good match on Friday and came back and we needed this one today - that was the bottom line. That's what we were focused on and I'm very happy for them and happy for the guys that started off strong. We got the doubles point which definitely helped us. In the end we're a good team and our belief is there and we're going to continue going through the season that way."

The Crimson Tide (15-5, 1-4 SEC) earned its first Southeastern Conference win of the season after defeating the Tigers (9-9, 0-4 SEC). The victory marks the eighth time this season that UA has shut out an opponent.

The Tide began the day with the No. 46-ranked doubles pair in sophomores Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov taking down Sarrio/Chavarria, 6-3, while Alabama clinched the doubles point after No. 31 junior Mazen Osama and sophomore Edson Ortiz bested Nguyen/De Vincentis, 6-4 to put UA up 1-0.

In singles competition, freshman Riccardo Roberto dominated Alexander Rushin, 6-0, 6-0, to improve to 2-0 in SEC play in 2018. Later on in the match, No. 92 Osama pushed the Tide lead to 3-0 after his straight-set victory over Edward Nguyen, 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Zhe Zhou clinched the victory for Alabama after moving past Tad Maclean, 6-4, 6-2.

The Crimson Tide will return to action next Sunday, Mar. 25 at No. 6 Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The match is set for a 1 p.m. CT first serve.

Alabama Results:

Singles vs. Auburn:

No. 92 Mazen Osama def. Edward Nguyen, 6-1, 6-3

Carles Sarrio vs. Thibault Cancel, 6-1, 5-6, unf.

Zhe Zhou def. Tad Maclean, 6-4, 6-2

Lorenzo Rodriguez vs. Edson Ortiz, 7-6 (7-1), 3-4, unf.

Brandon Laubser vs. Alexey Nesterov, 7-6 (7-4), 1-4, unf.

Riccardo Roberto def. Alexander Rushin, 6-0, 6-0

Order of Finish: 6, 1, 3

Doubles vs. Auburn:

No. 31 Ortiz/Osama def. Nguyen/De Vincentis, 6-4

No. 46 Cancel/Nesterov def. Sarrio/Chavarria, 6-3

Rodriguez/Maclean vs. Roberto/Zhou, 5-4, unf.

Order of Finish: 2, 1

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