AUBURN, Ala. – No. 32 Men's tennis fell to 14th ranked Mississippi State 4-2, then bounced back and defeated Alabama A&M 6-0 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center on Sunday.
"It was good for our guys to get a couple more hours out there and work on a few things," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said after the second match of the day. "It was great for our guys to do that as we head into the last weekend of the year and the SEC Tournament. We want to make sure we're hitting on all cylinders and taking care of some of those areas of our game that need a little bit of improvement."
Against Mississippi State in the first match of the day, Auburn got off on the wrong foot in the doubles point. Auburn trailed 2-1 on each of the top two courts and trailed 3-0 on the third court early. Mississippi State claimed court three, then Tyler Stice and Will Nolan responded by defeating Nemanja Malesevic and Michal Novansky 6-3 on court two. The win marked the duo's ninth dual match win of the season and their second in a row.
After trailing 4-2 at one point, the momentum on court one began to shift towards Finn Murgett and Raul Dobai after earning a break to tie the match at four. Mississippi State's Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez broke to tie the match at five and ultimately won the match in a tiebreaker to claim the doubles point.
Auburn began singles with opening set wins on four courts. Moreno dropped the first three games of his first set to Dusan Milanovic, but came back to win 7-5 while Tyler Stice's opening set with Malesevic remained close, but Stice prevailed in a tiebreaker.
Mississippi State won court two in straight sets before Billy Blaydes picked up his 18th singles dual match victory of the season. In the match, Blaydes won every service game and five break points. He also won 72 percent of points that occurred in his service games.
Moments after Blaydes finished his match, Dobai earned a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win on court six for his seventh dual match singles win of the season. The victory tied the team score at two. After the Bulldogs picked up a straight set victory on court five to take a 3-2 lead, both remaining matches entered a decisive third set on courts one and four.
Both Stice and Moreno were down early in their respective third sets. Stice came back from trailing 4-2 in the set to trail 5-4 while Moreno won three straight games with the score 5-2 to tie the match at five all. Stice ultimately lost his match to Malesevic, which clinched the match win for Mississippi State.
In its second match of the day, Auburn shuffled the doubles lineup around against Alabama A&M. Murgett and Nolan won the first three games of the match on court three and prevailed 6-1 on court one to start the doubles point. A few moments later, Blaydes and Nicholas Heng defeated Arnav Pathange and Kai Cowcher 6-4 to claim the doubles point.
The Tigers' success continued in singles, where they claimed the opening set on all six courts. Heng won his first set over Kai Cowcher after a lengthy tiebreaker that ended with Heng winning 12-10.
Nolan then won his first singles match since March 5 by defeating Radomir Tomic 6-1, 6-4. Tyler Stice picked up a 6-2, 6-2 straight set win over Nence N'Tcha for his 11th dual singles win of the season to give the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.
Raul Dobai clinched the match win for Auburn with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court five. Auburn then won in straight sets on courts two and three before the last remaining match was abandoned.
Up next, Auburn will host Texas A&M on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
#14 Mississippi State 4, #32 Auburn 2
Singles Results:
1. #107 Nemanja Malesevic (MS) def. #45 Tyler Stice (AUB) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4
2. #42 Petar Jovanovic (MS) def. #101 Finn Murgett (AUB) 6-2, 6-3
3. Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Carles Hernandez (MS) 6-3, 6-4
4. Alejandro Moreno (AUB) vs. Dusan Milanovic (MS) 7-5, 5-7, 5-5, unfinished
5. B. Sanchez Martinez (MS) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 7-5, 6-2
6. Raul Dobai (AUB) def. Radomir Tomic (MS) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles Results:
1. #22 Petar Jovanovic/B. Sanchez Martinez (MS) def. #37 Finn Murgett/Raul Dobai (AUB) 7-6 (7-0)
2. Tyler Stice/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Nemanja Malesevic/Michal Novansky (MS) 6-3
3. Carles Hernandez/Dusan Milanovic (MS) def. Billy Blaydes/Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-2
Time of match: 4:02; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2,1; Singles: 2,3,6,5,1; Official: Donna Jerome
#32 Auburn 6, Alabama A&M 0
Singles Results:
1. Tyler Stice (AUB) def. Vence N'Tcha (AAMU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Chetanna Amadike (AAMU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Alejandro Moreno (AUB) def. Yin Chih Lan (AAMU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Nicholas Heng (AUB) vs. Kai Cowcher (AAMU) 7-6, 0-1, unfinished
5. Raul Dobai (AUB) def. Freddie Lawrence (AAMU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Will Nolan (AUB) def. Lebogang Mashego (AAMU) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles Results:
1. Finn Murgett/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Vence N'Tcha/Freddie Lawrence (AAMU) 6-1
2. Raul Dobai/Alejandro Moreno (AUB) vs. Chetanna Amadike/Yin Chih Lan (AAMU) 4-5, unfinished
3. Billy Blaydes/Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Arnav Pathange/Kai Cowcher (AAMU) 6-4
Time of match: 2:07; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 6,1,5,2,3; Official: Donna Jerome