The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Snaps Three-Match Winning Streak
4/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 3, 2002
AUBURN, Ala. - The 58th-ranked UAB men's tennis team snapped a three-match winning streak Wednesday, falling 6-1 to 17th-ranked Auburn under the lights at the Luther Young Tennis Complex.
With the loss, the Blazers drop to 13-6 overall, while the Tigers improved to 12-5 on the season.
In doubles, Auburn went up early in the match winning at the No.1 and No. 3 spots to take the first point of the match. UAB's bright spot came at the No. 2 position as the Blazer tandem of Andre van der Merwe and George Dubrava captured their 12th win of the season, defeating Auburn's Rameez Junaid and Andre Boz.
The Blazers only point of the match came at the No. 1 singles slot as van der Merwe knocked off the 36th-ranked player in the nation in a third set tie-breaker. The senior from Cape Town, South Africa took a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 victory over Tiger Tiago Ruffoni.
The Tigers managed to take wins in the No. 2 through No. 6 slots, capturing the win, 6-1 over the Blazers.
UAB is back in action this weekend, playing host to 39th-ranked South Alabama Sunday in a 1 p.m. tilt at the Lakeshore Foundation Tennis Facility. The Blazers will then host Louisiana-Lafayette Monday in a 2 p.m. match-up.
Auburn 6, UAB 1
Doubles
No. 1 #25 Colombo/Kovacs (AU) def. #35 Klein/Jung (UAB) 8-4
No. 2 Dubrava/van der Merwe (UAB) def. Junaid/Boz (AU) 8-6
No. 3 Ruffoni/Strecker (AU) def. Zaman/Andreev (UAB) 8-2
Singles
No. 1 Andre van der Merwe (UAB) def. #36 Tiago Ruffoni (AU) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7-0)
No. 2 #24 Rameez Junaid (AU) def. Tobi Klein (UAB) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Andrew Colombo (AU) def. Alex Jung (UAB) 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 Mark Kovacs (AU) def. Ivan Andreev (UAB) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
No. 5 Estevam Strecker (AU) def. George Dubrava (UAB) 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Mark Van Elden (AU) def. Sanzaruz Zaman (UAB) 6-3, 6-2
