AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's top doubles team of senior Brandon Laubser and sophomore Tad Maclean advanced to the Round of 16 Tuesday at the NCAA doubles championships being played at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Auburn duo took advantage in the first set, going up 3-1 to eventually win the first set 6-3 over No. 22-ranked Bertus Kruger and Reese Stalder of TCU. The Horned Frogs evened the score 6-3 in the second set, setting up a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match.
The pairs were tied 5-5 and 9-9 in the tiebreaker, before Laubser and Maclean edged ahead to capture the 13-11 set win to take the match.
"Our guys played some great high-percentage doubles today," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Brandon and Tad served very smartly all day, which allowed them to be aggressive at the net on those games. When they have a clear game plan and execute, tad and Brandon can beat any team in the country."
On Wednesday in the Round of 16, Laubser and Maclean took on the nation's top-seeded doubles team, Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah of Baylor. The Tiger tandem forced a tiebreaker in the first set, but Baylor won that initial period 7-6 and took that momentum to win the second set 6-1.
Laubser and Maclean were ranked No. 38 nationally in the last Oracle/ITA rankings before NCAA team play began. They were 15-12 as Auburn's number one doubles team this spring, facing eight nationally ranked opponents and posting SEC wins over teams from LSU, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas.