Auburn claims 4-2 win over Arkansas on Senior Day

Box Score
Auburn claims 4-2 win over Arkansas on Senior DayAuburn claims 4-2 win over Arkansas on Senior Day
Addie Ray/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – Men’s tennis was victorious in its final regular season home match of the 2025 season on Saturday, taking down Arkansas by a 4-2 score at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. Auburn won a tightly contested doubles point followed by three singles wins from Will Nolan, Billy Blaydes and Nicholas Heng to claim the victory.

“We stressed the doubles point this entire week, and to be able to get that point and have that emotion was it was great for us,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said after the win. “I do think we then had a letdown. In the singles, they just didn't have that sense of urgency, maybe that we need to have. But credit to them, they lost five first sets and it never looked like they wavered one time. They battled back and flipped. The scoreboard pressure helped us out so much in the end, and having guys on the court to just allow the tennis to evolve helped us. We played our some of our best tennis down the stretch.”

Arkansas started the doubles point with an early advantage by claiming the top doubles court by a 6-3 score. With the match tied at five, Alex Frusina and Joey Phillips won a crucial deciding point over Bozo Barun and Benni Emesz. The match went to a tiebreaker, which remained tight throughout. With the tiebreaker tied at five, the Auburn freshman duo won each of the next two points to win the match.

Heng and Jake Kennedy held serve throughout their match on court three, leading to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Heng and Kennedy came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 9-7 and clinch the doubles point for the Tigers. The doubles point win marked Auburn’s first in eight matches.

Arkansas then bounced back from its doubles point loss by claiming the opening set on five of the six matches to begin singles play.

On his senior day, Auburn’s Will Nolan picked up a crucial break in his first set over Bozo Barun to take a 5-3 lead before claiming the set 6-3. Nolan then broke to 15 in his final game of the second set to defeat Barun 6-3, 6-3 and give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage.

The Razorbacks then responded with a straight set win at the No. 2 position and the No. 4 position to tie the match at two. At the No. 4 position, Joey Phillips lost to Benni Emesz in two close sets that were decided by tiebreakers.

Billy Blaydes bounced back from a first set loss by dominating a second set tiebreaker 7-1 over Jakub Vrba on court three. The final set went back-and-forth with both sides holding late in the set. Leading 5-4, Blaydes then broke to 15 and won the match 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 for his sixth consecutive singles victory.

Heng also dropped his first set on court six, but bounced back with a one-sided second set win to force a decisive third set. Arkansas’ Arthur Bellegy took an early 3-1 lead in the final set before Heng won the next two games to tie the set. Bellengy then earned a break to take a 5-3 lead before Heng again tied the set, which eventually went into a tiebreaker. The Auburn redshirt sophomore prevailed in the tiebreaker 7-3 to deliver Auburn the emotional victory.

ZB105409.JPG

The win improves Auburn’s record to 16-7 overall and above .500 in conference play at 6-5. The Tigers finished their regular season home slate with a 13-1 record at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Up next, Auburn will travel to play rival Alabama on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. CT at the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Live video and scoring of the match will be available online at RollTide.com.

 

 

#31 Auburn 4, #38 Arkansas 2

Singles Results:

  1. Will Nolan (AUB) def. Bozo Barun (ARKM) 6-3, 6-3
  2. #80 Lukas Palovic (ARKM) def. #60 Alex Frusina (AUB) 6-2, 6-1
  3. Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Jakub Vrba (ARKM) 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4
  4. Benni Emesz (ARKM) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5)
  5. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) vs. Marino Jakic (ARKM) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-4, unfinished
  6. Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Arthur Bellegy (ARKM) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3)

Doubles Results:

  1. #48 Connor Smillie/Jakub Vrba (ARKM) def. #10 Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3
  2. Alex Frusina/Joey Phillips (AUB) def. Bozo Barun/Benni Emesz (ARKM) 7-6 (8-6)
  3. Nicholas Heng/Jake Kennedy (AUB) def. Brendan Boland/Marino Jakic (ARKM) 7-6 (9-7)

 

Time of match: 3:34; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2,3; Singles: 1,2,4,3,6; Official: Donna Jerome