No. 27 Auburn junior Tyler Stice defeated the top-ranked player in college tennis as No. 27 men's tennis split a doubleheader with No. 3 Florida and Samford Sunday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Tigers defeated Samford 4-0, while Florida was a 6-1 winner.
"Against Florida, a couple of points here and there," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. "They are national champs because they take opportunities when they see them. They have the confidence and belief to go after it, win or lose. We have to improve on that – going for it and then regrouping and doing it again and again. We'll have opportunities next weekend and we have to keep working and growing.
"Tyler did an unbelievable job of neutralizing Shelton's power," Reynolds said of Stice's win. "Tyler is relentless, and when he gets going, no one is going to get a lot of free points off him. He's definitely grown in confidence these last few weeks and takes the opportunity when it's there."
The highlight of singles against the Gators came on court one, as an enthusiastic audience helped Auburn's Tyler Stice defeat the nation's top-ranked singles player, Ben Shelton, in a third-set tiebreaker. Stice took the first set 7-6 by winning a 7-5 tiebreaker, but Shelton was a winner in the second stanza, forcing a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match. Stice gained the upper hand early in that third set and won 10-5 to take the match 7-6 (5), 0-6, 1-0 (5), making history for the Tigers.
Auburn's Jan Galka won his first set 6-2 against No. 22 Sam Riffice and Raul Dobai forced a third set against No. 125 Andy Andrade but the Gators prevailed in both those matches.
Florida also took the doubles point with wins at one and two. Raul Dobai and Jackson Ross were leading 6-5 when their doubles match was abandoned.
Against Samford, Auburn claimed the doubles point with wins by Maxwell Giddens and Josh Raab by a 6-1 score and by Jan Galka and Tyler Stice by a 6-4 score.
In singles, Spencer Gray by a 6-3, 6-0 score, Will Nolan by a score of 6-4, 6-2, and Maxwell Giddens by a 7-5, 6-2 score secured the match for the Tigers.
"Our fans have been a huge part of our success this season," Reynolds added. "Our guys really appreciate and feed off their attendance and energy."
Auburn is 18-7 for the spring season, 5-5 in SEC play and ranked No. 27 in the latest ITA team ratings and No. 24 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25. No. 3 Florida is 19-2 and 11-0 in the SEC. Samford is now 5-13.
Senior Tad Maclean was honored during the Florida match. Maclean, with 69 career doubles wins, now ranks ninth all-time among Auburn career leaders in that category, and his 133 combined career wins rank 13th in Auburn history.
Next weekend, Auburn concludes the regular season with SEC road matches at No. 10 Georgia Friday at 4 p.m. and at No. 5 Tennessee Sunday at noon.
#3 Florida 6, #27 Auburn 1
Singles
#46 Tyler Stice (AU) def. #1 Ben Shelton (UF) 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 1-0 (10-5)
#22 Sam Riffice (UF) def. Jan Galka (AU) 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
#108 Duarte Vale (UF) def. Tad Maclean (AU) 6-3, 7-5
#125 Andy Andrade (UF) def. Raul Dobai (AU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
#117 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Finn Murgett (AU) 6-2, 7-6 (4)
Lukas Greif (UF) def. Jackson Ross (AU) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
#22 Riffice/Shelton (UF) def. #36 Murgett/Maclean (AU) 6-3
#25 Andrade/Siimar (UF) def. Galka/Stice (AU) 6-3
Dobai/Jackson Ross (AU) v Vale/Nate Bonetto (UF) 6-5 unfinished
Time of match: 2:57; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2; Singles: 6,5,3,1,4,2
#27 Auburn 4, Samford 0
Singles
#46 Tyler Stice (AU) v Mohammed Ali Bellalouna (Sam) 7-5, 2-3 unfinished
Tad Maclean (AU) v Jim Hendrikx (Sam) 4-6, 2-3 unfinished
Will Nolan (AU) def. Yerrassyl Murat (Sam) 6-4, 6-2
Spencer Gray (AU) def. J.B. Pickard (Sam) 6-3, 6-0
Maxwell Giddens (AU) def. Harrison Williams (Sam) 7-5, 6-2
Josh Raab (AU) v Will Gray (Sam) 7-6, 4-2 unfinished
Doubles
Jan Galka/Tyler Stice (AU) def. Bellalouna/Hendrikx (Sam) 6-4
Raul Dobai/Jackson Ross (AU) v Murat/Williams (Sam) 4-4 unfinished
Maxwell Giddens/Josh Raab (AU) def. Gray/Pickard (Sam) 6-1
Time of match: 1:56; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 4,3,5; Official: Donna Jerome