April 23, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn opens play Wednesday in the 2018 SEC men's tennis championships being held at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers are the No. 13 seed and will face No. 12 and host team Alabama Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT in the tournament's opening match.
The winner of that contest will face No. 5-seed Kentucky (No. 24, 14-10 overall, 7-5 SEC) Thursday at 4 p.m. The winner of Thursday's match advances to the quarterfinals to face No. 4-seed Tennessee (No. 21, 19-7 overall, 8-4 SEC) Friday at 4 p.m. Semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the championship match is Sunday at noon.
"It's going to be a bit of a challenge playing Alabama on their home court, but when we played them earlier this year, we were without our No. 2 and 3 guys, Matteo (DeVincentis) and Olle (Thestrup)," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Now we'll be playing them with a full lineup in singles and doubles, which will be nice.
"It starts with the doubles point and we are so close. That's a huge mental mountain you have to climb, and when you get the doubles point, you can play more freely.
"I see our potential and how close we are to the ranked teams. Our guys want it - they enjoy the practices, the conditioning, they show up and they're ready to go. That group of guys will be carrying Auburn tennis for the next few years."
Auburn is 12-17 overall and 1-11 in SEC play. Freshman Matteo De Vincentis is No. 86 nationally in singles in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings. Alabama is ranked No. 50 nationally, with a 16-11 overall record and a 2-10 SEC mark.