The Auburn men's tennis team travels to Tallahassee, Fla., for a pair of weekend matches at Florida State's Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center.
Auburn will face Florida State Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT. The Tigers will play Miami Saturday morning at 10 in a neutral-site match.
"We're happy to get a chance to keep going. You never know with covid if you're going to be able to play; we're happy for another opportunity to go down there and compete," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Florida State has been off for the last few weeks – they have a lot of guys who are really good, but they haven't played since early in the season, so it's hard to see who's going to be in their lineup and who's going to be playing.
"Miami's tough – they have four fifth-year seniors coming back at 1-2-3-4 and they're very good at doubles – but not unbeatable. In our sport, you don't have to win on all six courts. You've got to win the doubles and have three guys who match up really well against their team and that's what we're trying to stress to our guys.
"From our standpoint, we need to do what we do well and we've got to get back to playing with emotion. Our team and our chemistry revolve around Tyler Stice and Max Giddens – they provide the energy to the other 3-4 guys on the court, giving them that confidence to get back in there and let them do what they do well. They're excited for another opportunity to go out there and compete and show their product."
The Tigers are now 2-3; Florida State is 3-1 and Miami is 0-1 this spring. For the Seminoles, Alex Knaff (77) and Rana-Roop Singh Bhular (108) are nationally ranked in singles. Miami has two ranked singles players in Adria Soriano Barrera (34) and Stefan Milicevic (64) and the No. 22-ranked doubles team in Franco Aubone and Benjamin Hannestad.
This weekend is Auburn's last tune-up before SEC play begins February 19 at South Carolina.