Auburn University men’s tennis team will play ITA Kickoff Weekend in Winston-Salem. As reported by Auburn University website, Tigers will face host school No. 10 Wake Forest today at 5pm. CT while Saturday’s opponent is yet to be determined.
Auburn jumped two spots from 25th to 23rd in the latest ITA team rankings that were released on Wednesday, while their Friday opponent, Wake Forest, jumped to 10th from 14th. The other two schools on the site are No. 19 Duke and Middle Tennessee.
Both games will be played indoors. Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said, “Wake Forest is a great team at home; I can’t tell you the last time they lost at home indoors, so they have a sense of comfort when they play indoors.
They’ve done a great job there. last year when we played them indoors serving big and getting control of the points. They’re not looking to play long rallies or grind points so we need to be ready for that. We need to make sure that when the field is a little quicker and especially indoors , we have to take that first hit to gain control of the point.
From there, you will most likely be successful if you can gain control of the point faster than your opponent.” Freshman Billy Blaydes, in just his first month on campus, went perfect 2-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles during Auburn’s first three doubles games of the season, while senior Jan Galka went 2-0 in both in singles and doubles in Auburn’s first three games.
Auburn was very successful in doubles on Thursday against Samford, as Galka and Blaydes won their game two 6-2, Tyler Stice and Alejandro Moreno won their game three 6-1, and Finn Murgett and Raul Dobai on court one was unfinished.
Coach Reynolds says he plans to keep the same doubles teams intact this weekend. Raul and Finn had a big fall out and played really well together at the Vanderbilt tournament. Their success lies in continuing to hit points with their serves and allowing their partner to be aggressive at the net.
If we don’t hit the points with our serves and the ball comes back, it’s a challenge.
About Auburn University
Auburn is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest in the state.
Auburn University’s sports teams are known as the Tigers and compete in Division I-A of the NCAA and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Auburn has won 19 intercollegiate championships (including 17 NCAA championships), three of them in football (1913, 1957, 2010), 8 in men’s swimming and diving (1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 ), 5 in women’s swimming and diving (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007), 2 in equestrian (2008, 2011), and one in women’s track and field (2006).
Auburn has also won a total of 70 Southeastern Conference titles, 51 men’s and 19 women’s. Auburn’s colors are orange and blue, chosen by George Petrie, the head coach of the college’s football team, inspired by the colors of his alma mater, the University of Virginia.
Auburn was founded on February 7, 1856 during the presidency of Franklin Pierce, as East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1872 the college became the first public university to benefit from the Morrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. Photo credits: Auburn University website
