WACO, Texas – The Auburn doubles team of Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan earned an opening round victory on Wednesday at the NCAA Doubles Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. The Auburn pair defeated Stanford’s Nicholas Godsick and Samir Banerjee by a 6-2, 6-4 score.
“The guys just came out ready to play,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said after the win. “Will being a senior and Billy being a junior, even though it’s their first time at NCAAs they had a presence about them. From the first point they got on top of them and it’s nice when you can get that first set and kind of relax. They did a great job to finish it off and hold their serve throughout the entire match. That’s a big part of men’s tennis and obviously in doubles.”
The Auburn duo started the match well, earning an early break to take a 3-1 lead in the first set. The two later won every point in a return game to take a 5-2 advantage before winning the set 6-2. Each side held serve in the second set to make the score 4-4 before Blaydes and Nolan earned a key break in a tight game to take a 5-4 lead. The two then won the next serve game to finish off the match.
Rolling on into the round of 16 ➡️ 🤝#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/SLfUjdnG2H
— Auburn Men's Tennis (@AuburnMTennis) November 20, 2024
The win marks the Tiger duo’s 10th of the fall and their sixth consecutive doubles win together. On Thursday, Blaydes and Nolan will face UCLA's Aadarsh Tripathi and Alexander Hoogmartens at 2 p.m. CT. A win on Thursday would automatically qualify Blaydes and Nolan as ITA Doubles All-Americans.
Wednesday Results:
Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Nicholas Godsick/Samir Banerjee (STAN)