MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 12-ranked Lander men's tennis team suffered an 8-1 loss to Auburn-Montgomery, the defending NAIA national champions, Sunday in the Bearcats season-opening match.

Auburn-Montgomery opened the match winning all three doubles matches, and won five of the six singles match. The lone singles win for Lander was at number six, where Max Desmars defeated AUM's Tomas Ptacek when Ptacek had to default after an injury in the first set.

In singles, No. 1 Victor Sanakai Papi (AUM) def. Damien Cordesse (LU); 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 Michael Johnson (AUM) def. Shaye Wali (LU); 6-1, 6-2; No. 3 Monte Tucker (AUM) def. Juan Manrique (LU); 6-2, 6-2; No. 4 Francisco Redondo (AUM) def. T.C. Valle (LU); 6-2, 6-4; No. 5 Nikola Miskovic (AUM) def. Carlos Marques (LU); 6-1, 6-2; and No. 6 Max Desmars (LU) def. Tomas Ptacek (AUM); 3-1 Default.

In doubles, No. 1 Johnson/Tucker (AUM) def. Cordesse/Fedoseyev (LU); 8-4; No. 2 ; Miskovic/Redondo (AUM) def. Valle/Desmars (LU); 8-4; and No. 3 Ptacek/Sanakai Papi (AUM) def. Wali/Manrique (LU); 8-6.