TAMPA, Fla. (February 11, 2007) ? In its fourth straight match against a ranked opponent, the University of South Florida men's tennis team fell to No. 43 Auburn 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. 

The loss sends the Bulls (1-4) to their fourth overall loss in as many contests.

The team looked to open strong in doubles play, with Henning Hipp and Daniel Daudt jumping out to a 5-2 lead in the No. 1 spot and Mahmoud Hamed and Thomas Estrada taking their match at No. 2, 8-2.  Auburn's team of Robbert Lathouwers and Lukas Marsoun battled back against Hipp and Daudt however, to post six straight points and take the top-flight match 8-5.  Mark Gattiker and Marc Jaeger fell at the third spot, 8-2 to give Auburn (4-0) the opening match point.

In singles play, Diego Toledo had his perfect season record spoiled by Alexey Tsyrenov, 6-3, 6-3 at the sixth position. 

Hamed and Ales Svigelj defended their home court with wins at No. 4 and No. 3, respectively.  Svigelj set down AU's Marsoun, 6-4, 6-4 and Hamed handled Milan Krnjetin 6-1, 6-1 for both of USF's points.  The total becomes the first scored on the Tigers thus far on the year.  Auburn won each of its three previous contests with scores of 7-0.

The Bulls will look for redemption Sat., Feb. 17 when they battle the Panthers of Georgia State at the Varsity Tennis Courts.  Match time is set for 11 a.m. and admission is free.

#43 Auburn 5, USF 2

Doubles
1) Lathouwers/Marsoun (AU) def. Hipp/Daudt (USF) 8-5
2) Hamed/Estrada (USF) def. Schweizer/Dilaj (AU) 8-2
3) Krnjetin/Tsyrenov (AU) def. Gattiker/Jaeger (USF) 8-2

Singles
1) Alex Schweizer (AU) def. Henning Hipp (USF) 6-1, 6-1
2) Robbert Lathouwers (AU) def. Marc Jaeger (USF) 6-3, 6-2
3) Ales Svigelj (USF) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 6-4, 6-4
4) Mahmoud Hamed (USF) def. Milan Krnjetin (AU) 6-1, 6-1
5) Pawel Dilaj (AU) def. Thomas Estrada (USF) 6-4, 6-4
6) Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. Diego Toledo (USF) 6-3, 6-3

Order of Finish: 1,2,4,5,3,6

USF: 1-4   Auburn:  4-0