Wildcats drop two matches

Thursday, April 1

Montgomery, Ala.

10 a.m.

Abilene Christian

Auburn-Montgomery

4/2/2010 1:03:05 AM | Men's Tennis

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The 25th-ranked ACU Wildcats ran into a pair of buzzsaws Thursday at the Blue-Gray Classic tennis tournament, falling to two top-10 teams at the Lagoon Park Tennis Center.

The Wildcats (11-9) lost to Auburn-Montgomery, 7-1, early Thursday afternoon and then dropped a 9-0 decision to West Florida late Thursday night. Tournament host Auburn-Montgomery is the No. 2-ranked team in NAIA, while West Florida is ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division II.

Things won't get any easier for the Wildcats on Friday as they take on No. 3 Valdosta State (Ga.) at 10:30 a.m.

ACU's only win over Auburn-Montgomery came at No. 6 singles where Jared Hope knocked off Florent Sentenac, 6-3, 6-1. The Wildcats' only close match in the loss to West Florida came at No. 5 where Hope lost a splits-sets match to Lukas Larsson, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.

"Auburn-Montgomery is just really tough," Jones said. "I thought we played great in doubles, but it wasn't good enough. We knew what we were getting into when we decided to come play down here. I'm hoping this helps us later in the season when we get into conference and regional tournaments. It should help us if we're tough enough to get beaten up a little bit this weekend.

"Playing these matches will only make us better," he said. "But it's tough because the teams we're playing here are just a little bit better than we are right now."

No. 2 (NAIA) Auburn-Montgomery 7, No. 25 Abilene Christian 1
Singles
1. Sadio Doumbia, AUM, def. Eldad Campbell, ACU, dnf
2. Alberto Romero, AUM, def. John Strahl, ACU, 6-0, 6-0
3. Ayrton Wibowo, AUM, def. Bryan Joiner, ACU, 6-2, 6-3
4. Bence Toth, AUM, def. Luke Hawk, ACU, 3-6, 6-2, 10-4
5. Loic Didavi, AUM, def. Brett Proctor, ACU, 6-1, 6-4
6. Jared Hope, ACU, def. Florent Sentenac, AUM, 6-3, 6-1

Doubles
1. Doumbia-Romero, AUM, Hawk-Strahl, ACU, 8-4
2. Campbell-Proctor, ACU, def. Andrade-Julian Kurz, AUM, 8-6
3. Wibowo-Toth, AUM, def. Joiner-Hope, ACU, 8-5

No. 7 West Florida 9, No. 25 Abilene Christian 0
Singles
1. Kevin Ducros, UWF, def. Eldad Campbell, ACU, 6-3, 6-3
2. Leandro Ferreira, UWF, def. Luke Hawk, ACU, 6-4, 6-2
3. Andrey Pozhidaev, UWF, def. Bryan Joiner, ACU, 6-1, 6-1
4. Sean Gunnels, UWF, def. Brett Proctor, ACU, 6-2, 6-2
5. Lukas Larsson, UWF, def. Jared Hope, ACU, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7
6. Mike Lue, UWF, def. Cody McCarty, ACU, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. Ducros-Ferreira, UWF, def. Hawk-Strahl, ACU, 8-4
2. Pozhidaev-Lue, UWF, def. Campbell-Proctor, ACU, 8-4
3. Bateman-Gunnels, UWF, def. Joiner-Hope, ACU, 8-4