The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Auburn
Women's Tennis Team Falls To Auburn, 5-2
2/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 9, 2003
AUBURN, Ala. ----- The UAB women's tennis team came up short here Sunday in dual match action, falling to No. 31-ranked Auburn, 5-2.
UAB, which will play four matches in four days next week, dropped to 0-2 on the season as it opened its dual season a week ago with a loss to another Southeastern Conference foe, Mississippi State, last weekend.
Auburn won the doubles point with a pair of hard-fought victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, winning both by 8-6 scores. At No. 1, the Tigers' 26th-ranked tandem of Carolina Ramirez and Petra Bercik defeated UAB's Natascha Immele and Nadia Dellarciprete and Auburn's Liz Sauerborn and Isabel Rosenbrock edged the Blazers' Nischa Maier-Knapp and Femke de Boer at No. 2 doubles.
UAB's Immele posted one of her team's two victories of the afternoon with a win at No. 1 singles, downing Auburn's Ramirez, the nation's No. 87-ranked singles player, 6-1, 7-5. The Blazers' other singles victory came at No. 4 as Maier-Knapp defeated Auburn's Sarah Suitor, 3-6, 6-4, (6).
Auburn proved to be too strong for UAB at the No. 2, 3, 5 and 6 singles positions as the Tigers posted straight-set wins in each of those matches.
"Obviously, we're not happy with a loss, but I thought overall, we made a good showing today against a very good Auburn team that is ranked in the top 35 in the country," said UAB head coach Mert Ertunga. "We have played two matches against two outstanding teams, so we have to build on these performances.
"We had some matchups today against Auburn that I felt were not favorable ones for us, and the results showed that," said Ertunga. "Still, I thought our play was very competitive."
UAB returns to the courts four times this week, all at home. On Thursday, Feb.13, when it plays Birmingham-Southern at 2:00 p.m. CT. On Friday, the Blazers meet Murray State at 4:00 p.m. Then Saturday, UAB plays Conference USA foe Southern Mississippi at 10:00 a.m. before playing host to C-USA opponent Houston Sunday, Feb. 16 at 1:00 p.m. CT
