AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn is set to begin its run to the NCAA Championship on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT in the first round against Belmont at the NCAA Columbus Regional at the Auer Tennis Complex in Columbus, Ohio. If the Tigers win on Saturday, they will face the winner of Saturday afternoon’s match on Sunday against host school Ohio State or Buffalo on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
“Our guys have had a chance to take a couple of extra days off and rest the body,” said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. “It has been a long and grueling season so to have this past weekend off is a huge advantage. Only certain teams have that. Ohio State, for example, played their conference championship on Sunday. Ultimately, everything we have been doing this season is for the NCAA Championship, so we want to go in as fresh as possible.”
Auburn enters its fourth straight NCAA Championship with a 19-10 overall record and as winners of thee of its last four matches. The team pulled off an impressive 4-3 victory over Kentucky before falling to No. 4 Texas in the SEC Championship quarterfinals. The Tigers are ranked No. 31 in the latest ITA National Team Rankings that were released on Thursday.
Auburn will face a familiar opening round opponent in Belmont to begin the championship. The two teams faced off earlier in the season on March 13 and the Tigers won the match 4-1 at home. In the match, Auburn dropped the doubles point but came back to win the match with straight set singles victories from Alex Frusina, Joey Phillips, Hamza Nasridinov and Nicholas Heng.
Ohio State, the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Championship, have had a dominant season in the Big Ten, going 26-3 overall and a perfect 13-0 in conference matches. The Buckeyes reached the championship match of the Big Ten Tournament but fell to No. 22 UCLA. Ohio State have now hosted NCAA Opening Rounds 18 times in the last 19 seasons and finished the 2023 season as NCAA runner-up. The Tigers and Buckeyes have faced off four times in program history and each side has won two matches in the all-time series.
Buffalo, the regional 4-seed, earned a spot in the NCAA Championship after defeating Western Michigan to win the MAC Tournament. The Bulls will enter their first-round match with an 18-5 overall record this season.
Live video and live scoring of each match during the Columbus Regional will be available online at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.