AUBURN, Ala. – Men’s tennis will begin its quest for the 2025 SEC Championship on Thursday at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Auburn, the 8-seed, will face 9-seed Kentucky at 1 p.m. CT in the second round of the championship after receiving a first-round bye.
“You’re going to see a lot of the same singles matchups that we saw during the regular season match with Kentucky, I would imagine,” said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. “We had a lot of success with four singles wins and one of the other spots went three sets. I like our matchups with them and I like being outside. South Carolina’s courts are similar to ours at Yarbrough where its bouncy and slower conditions. With the heat and the weather we’ll have in Columbia, it makes the ball jump even more and that plays even more into our game.”
If Auburn wins on Thursday, they will face 1-seed Texas at 1 p.m. CT in the quarterfinals on Friday. If the Tigers defeat the Longhorns, the semifinal match will be played on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT and Sunday’s final match is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
Auburn finished the regular season on a high note over the weekend, defeating Tulane and LSU on the road on Friday and Sunday. The Tigers finished the regular season 18-9 overall and 7-7 in SEC play.
Auburn junior Billy Blaydes continued his dominance in singles this weekend, clinching the Tigers’ road victory Friday and recording a straight set victory on Sunday. Blaydes has won nine consecutive singles victories and holds a 23-14 overall singles record this season.
Kentucky finished its regular season with a 16-10 overall record and a 7-7 record in conference play. The Wildcats will enter the championship with momentum, as they have won each of their last five matches. Auburn. During the regular season, Auburn defeated Kentucky at home by a 4-3 score. With the match tied at three, Auburn’s Nicholas Heng claimed a close three-set match over Kentucky’s Eli Stephenson to lead the Tigers to victory.
Auburn has two SEC Championship victories from 1983 and 1984. The Tigers made a run to the event’s semifinals in 2022 in Athens, Georgia.
The SEC Championship semifinals will be televised on SEC Network + while the final will be televised on SEC Network. All other matches will be streaming at GamecocksOnline.com and live scoring of each match during the event will also be available at GamecocksOnline.com.