AUM sweeps NAIA South Regional singles, doubles finals
October 3, 2010

Tournament Web site

     NEW ORLEANS — Auburn Montgomery's Bence Toth trailed 2-0 in both sets but rallied past William Carey's Jody Claasen 6-4, 7-5 in the men's singles final of the USTA/ITA NAIA South Regional Championships at the University of New Orleans Tennis Center.
     AUM won all four Sunday finals and five of six in the tournament, which consisted of seven schools, including host Xavier University of Louisiana. Ana Veselenovic, the only top seed to win a title, beat teammate Jade Curtis 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 for the women's singles championship. But Curtis got revenge in the women's doubles final, teaming with Kvetka Hajkova to beat top-seeded Veselenovic and Morgane Zowczak 8-2. In another all-AUM final, second-seeded Bruno Savi and Claudio Andrade knocked off top-seeded Boris Obama and Loic Didavi 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 in men's doubles.
     Toth, the No. 3 seed, lost his serve in the first game of each set but prevailed over fifth-seeded Claasen, who was aiming for his third consecutive victory against a seeded player. Toth won four straight games in the final set to take a 4-2 lead, then survived two Claasen breaks which tied the set at 5. Toth closed the match by holding serve, then breaking Claasen in the final game.
     Claasen, a freshman, was the only Sunday finalist not representing AUM, a perennial power which won six of the past nine NAIA men's championships and eight of the past 11 women's titles.
     Curtis and Hajkova were unseeded but defeated the top two seeds in the final two rounds.