May 23, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn's Conner Huertas del Pino and Max Hinnisdaels are among the 32 doubles teams competing in the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships beginning Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
The Auburn duo will face UCLA's Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu in the opening round; the UCLA tandem is seeded second overall in the tournament with a record of 19-4.
"I'm very excited for the opportunity that lies ahead for Conner and Max," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. "To finish off their college careers at the NCAA tournament is a very special memory. They've had a nice break following the season to get healthy and have put in some hard work this past week.
"Their first-round test is a tough one, but that is when the seeds are most vulnerable. I know Max and Conner will leave nothing behind and give it everything they have."
Listed at No. 21 nationally in the Oracle/ITA doubles rankings, the senior duo of Huertas del Pino, from Lima, Peru, and Hinnisdaels, from Saint-Genesius-Rode, Belgium, went 12-8 this spring at No. 1 doubles, and 16-10 for the year.
All matches at the NCAA Championships shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a 7-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
This is the 17th time Auburn men's tennis has qualified a doubles team for the NCAA Championships; the last was Lukas Ollert and Marko Krickovic in 2015. Auburn's Mark Kovacs and Andy Columbo won the NCAA doubles title in 2002.