Auburn men’s tennis (6-12, 2-7 SEC) entertains No. 9 Ole Miss (8-7, 5-3 SEC) Friday in a 2 p.m. SEC match at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
On Sunday, the Tigers travel to No. 15 Mississippi State (12-6, 2-5 SEC) for a 1 p.m. match at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend from the standpoint of the rankings of the teams we are playing and also the traveling; you play one match at home Friday and then you’ve got to go away on Sunday,” Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. “But that’s the SEC – that’s why you come and play here and those opportunities are what you live for.
“We’ve got to be ready. We only have three matches left for the rest of the regular season – obviously three great opportunities between Ole Miss, Mississippi State and then Arkansas at home – and we’ve got to capitalize. We’ve put ourselves in the position to be successful too many times this year to let another one go.”
In the latest Oracle ITA rankings, Auburn’s top doubles tandem of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett have moved up to No. 32 nationally, and sophomore Tyler Stice is ranked No. 36 nationally in singles.
Ole Miss has the nation’s top ranked doubles team in Finn Reynolds and Tim Sandkaulen and three ranked players in singles: Reynolds (11), Nikola Slavic (32) and Sandkaulen (55). Mississippi State has four ranked singles players – Florian Broska (45), Davide Tortora (49), Giovanni Oradini (51) and Nemanja Malesevic (71) – and one ranked doubles squad, Broksa and Gregor Ramskogler (52).
All Auburn home tennis action is at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (1717 Richland Road, Auburn). Fans wearing face coverings are welcome to attend all matches played outdoors; fans may want to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating to remain socially distanced. If weather moves the match indoors, only participants and officials will be admitted.