AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men's tennis team heads to Montgomery for the weekend, competing in the 71st Blue Gray National Tennis Classic February 22-23 at Lagoon Park and the O'Connor Tennis Center.
Auburn is 9-4 on the season. Other teams in the Blue Gray men's field include No. 16/20 Alabama (8-1), No. 38 Arizona (6-1), Fresno State (5-4), No. 48 Ole Miss (5-3), Princeton (8-3), Rice (6-4) and No. 32 Texas Tech (6-3).
Auburn will face Arizona in the opening round at 9 a.m. Friday morning on the Lagoon Park courts. Other first-round men's matchups will be Rice-Texas Tech, Ole Miss-Princeton and Alabama-Fresno State.
"This is a great tournament and we've been playing in it a long time," Auburn coach Bobby Reynolds said. "The host families welcome us with open arms and make an impact on our guys. That gives it a different match feel, with home-cooked meals and staying in someone's home, not a hotel.
"It's a really good field top to bottom, with us, Alabama, Rice, Princeton, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Arizona and Fresno State. Six or seven of those teams are in the top 40 and guys have to be ready. It's a unique event because you're going to play a dual match in the morning, play doubles in the afternoon, come back the next day and finish up that match with singles, and then you play another dual match. A lot of our training and conditioning and match count from the beginning of the spring should help us.
"Lagoon Park is great and they do a great job. It's popping with fans and kids, especially Saturday morning when they have a kids' clinic and games. Lots of folks are checking out college tennis and you have the men and women playing at the same time. It gives the fans and our guys a chance to watch other teams and cheer our women on."
A number of players competing are listed in the latest Oracle/ITA national rankings. In singles, No. 32 Masen Osama (Alabama), No. 108 Patrick Kaulkovata (Alabama), No. 114 Tommy Mylnikov (Texas Tech), No. 115 Parker Wynn (Texas Tech) and No. 125 Karl Poling (Princeton) are among the field.
Nationally ranked teams in doubles competing include No. 4 Fabian Fallert and Finn Reynolds of Ole Miss, No. 8 Parker Wynn and Bjorn Thomson of Texas Tech, No. 27 Ryan Seggerman and Damian Rodriguez of Princeton, and No. 49 Sumit Sarkar and Eric Rutledge of Rice.
Matches will be held at Lagoon Park (2855 Lagoon Park Drive) and the O'Connor Tennis Center (500 Anderson Street) in Montgomery. Admission to all matches is free, as is admission to the annual Kids' Tennis Festival Saturday at 9 a.m. at Lagoon Park. For updated draws and information, go to www.bluegraytennis.com.