Jan. 26, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn (1-0) will face Georgia State (3-1) Friday in the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend at No. 2 Wake Forest.
The Tigers' opening match will be at 1 p.m. CT, while host Wake Forest (3-0) and Nebraska (0-1) will play at 4 p.m. CT Friday. The winners will play at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the losing teams playing Saturday at 1 p.m. All matches will be played at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
"We're going to concentrate on the first match of the weekend and take care of business. That's the way good results will come," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Georgia State is a good team and a tricky one. They have already had a really good road win at #27 Florida State. Our guys will have to be ready to go and not looking ahead toward what's next."
Auburn is coming off an opening-weekend 4-3 road win at UCF, where the Tigers won the doubles point and got singles wins from Carles Sarrio, Edward Nguyen and Brandon Laubser to clinch the victory, the first at Auburn for Reynolds.
"I'm really proud of how our guys battled mentally and physically last weekend," Reynolds said. "It shows them that the strong will survive."
The Tigers will likely keep the same lineup for this weekend, with Max Hinnisdaels, Carles Sarrio, Conner Huertas del Pino, Edward Nguyen, Dante Saleh, Brandon Laubser and Olle Thestrup among the singles competitors.
In doubles, Auburn's tandems will likely be Hinnisdaels and Huertas del Pino (ranked No. 14 nationally), Saleh and Nguyen, and Laubser and Sarrio.
Live scoring of this weekend's matches will be at: http://www.wakeforestsports.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm.
Auburn opens its home season on Saturday, February 4, with a pair of matches against Alabama A&M (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) and hosts Georgia Tech on Sunday, February 5, at 1 p.m. All home matches are at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (771 Yarbrough Farms Blvd., Auburn) and admission is free.