AUBURN, Ala. – No. 18 Auburn men’s tennis will host both of the Southeastern Conference’s Texas schools this week in its final two regular-season home matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. The Tigers will face No. 10 Texas A&M on Thursday at 3 p.m. CT and No. 2 Texas for Senior Day on Saturday at noon CT.
“We know that the SEC schedule is absolutely brutal, and we have Texas A&M and Texas coming in, who are both ranked top 10 in the country,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “We’ve shown as a program that we can compete and beat anybody in the country when all six guys show up for singles and doubles. I’m excited for the opportunities over these next matches for our guys to continue to push and beat top programs.”
Auburn split its most recent weekend of matches at home, upsetting No. 7 LSU on Friday before falling to No. 16 South Carolina on Sunday. Auburn is 15-6 overall this season and 5-5 in the SEC, which is tied for eighth in the conference standings. Friday’s 5-2 victory over LSU helped Auburn jump five spots in the ITA National Team Rankings to No. 18.
Auburn sophomore Hamza Nasridinov had a strong week on the top singles court, picking up two victories over top-30 opponents, including No. 29 Olaf Pieczkowski of LSU in a match-clinching win as well as No. 15 Lucas da Silva of South Carolina. Nasridinov moved to No. 26 in the latest ITA Singles Rankings released Tuesday and holds a 24-7 overall record this season (10-5 in dual matches).
Auburn’s Billy and Freddy Blaydes moved to No. 10 in the latest ITA Doubles Rankings after an impressive victory this weekend. The Blaydes brothers defeated South Carolina’s Paul Barbier Gazeu and Lucas da Silva, the eighth-ranked doubles team in the nation, 6-2 on Sunday for their 17th win together this season. The duo is 12-5 in dual matches this season.
Texas A&M will enter Thursday’s match with a 15-7 overall record and an 8-3 mark in SEC play. The Aggies lost a nonconference matchup to No. 5 Ohio State on March 18 but bounced back with three consecutive SEC wins over No. 6 Mississippi State, Arkansas and Tennessee. Texas A&M leads the all-time series 10-4 and claimed last season’s matchup in College Station.
Texas is currently tied for the lead in the SEC standings with Mississippi State with a 9-2 conference record. The Longhorns are 18-6 overall and have won each of their last four matches against No. 13 Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Texas senior Sebastian Gorzny is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in singles with a 21-5 overall record this season (15-3 in dual matches). Saturday will mark just the sixth all-time matchup between the Tigers and the Longhorns, with Texas leading the series 4-1. Texas will face Ole Miss on Thursday before traveling to Auburn.
Fans in attendance Thursday will receive charcuterie snacks while supplies last, and fans on Saturday will receive free Auburn men’s tennis T-shirts while supplies last. Following the match Saturday, Auburn will honor manager Kate Rees, Billy Blaydes, Nicholas Heng and Thomas Kennedy during a Senior Day presentation on the court.
Live video and live scoring of both matches will be available at AuburnTigers.com. More fan information is available at AuburnTigers.com/MatchDay.
Auburn in the rankings (ITA)
Singles:
26 – Hamza Nasridinov
78 – Billy Blaydes
Doubles: