Unity. Determination. Accountability.
These are the key characteristics of the developing culture as the Auburn men's tennis team launches into its SEC schedule this weekend at South Carolina and Florida. As the Tigers open conference play, the months of training and culture building for this young team are coming to fruition.
"From a culture side, having a young team is a challenge in explaining the importance of team/individual culture. Young players are eager to hit tennis balls, work out, play matches, etc., but their previous experiences make them less familiar with learning the how and why team/individual culture play into the bigger picture," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said.
"College tennis is unique among other sports on campus, because for many of our athletes, it's the first and only time that a tennis player's success is not solely based on individual results, but the culmination of four individual successes for a team win.
"Every single player on the team has a part to play to achieve team success, and whether you play #1 or #11, there is an obligation to contribute."
Many of those contributions this season are coming from a roster that includes seven student-athletes who are new to the program over the past two seasons: 2020 freshmen Spencer Gray, Tyler Stice and Finn Murgett, 2021 freshmen Maxwell Giddens and Jackson Ross and transfers Jan Galka and Tom Wright. That infusion of youth is a key reason why the Auburn coaches are excited for the future.
"We currently have five players who will compete, train, and grow together for the next four years," Reynolds explained. "As a coach, being able to assemble a group of men with the work ethic, determination and belief that these young guys have is so exciting not just for now, but looking ahead to when they become upperclassmen.
"This core nucleus of players will be very exciting to watch and follow going forward. These guys want Auburn men's tennis to be a top 10 program and have set their sights on that goal.
"The emphasis is on the daily consistency that will produce the results all athletes are working for. Our team culture is named Blood and Bones -- everyone is made up of the same matter, 206 bones and roughly 1.5 gallons of blood, but the real question is how are you going to differentiate yourself?"
Facing only SEC competition in the fall, Tyler Stice was the overall singles winner and Auburn's tandem of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett were the winners in doubles at the Vanderbilt Invitational in October, and Stice and Jackson Ross were the doubles champions of the Tiger Fall Invitational at Auburn.
The Tigers have followed that up with a strong non-conference performance, taking six of seven doubles points and winning most recently in a road match at Florida State last Friday.
Those achievements set the stage for a productive SEC competition season, with hopes of earning an NCAA tournament bid despite the unusual pandemic circumstances.
"Our team has a goal to win against every one of our opponents in the following categories: effort, emotion, enthusiasm and mentality. Those areas are all characteristic traits controllable every time we step foot on the practice or match court," Reynolds, a veteran of 12 season of professional tennis, explained. "We cannot always control our opponents' level of play, but we can evaluate ourselves on the areas in our control. That's part of building a culture.
"The foundation of our team culture is built on hard work, dedication and sacrifice. My mission is to 'mentor, challenge and encourage all players to expand the boundaries of what they believe is possible in order to achieve greatness!' Looking in the mirror at the end of the day and self-assessing if you gave 100% is the only way to truly expand the boundaries for individual growth. Our players are growing and buying in.
"When I view the current state of our men's tennis culture, we have just poured the cement foundation. The goal this year with such a young team is to correctly place the first level of bricks, not only to hold the future bricks, but to give others a first glance at what that first level of bricks stands for."
Once others learn about the Auburn culture, it's magnetic and contagious.
"Auburn is an amazing university for any college athlete to attend. Team culture, success and player recruitment drive the recruiting process in college tennis. In the past, the Auburn team has been primarily international student-athletes but lacked the American component. It was a goal of mine from the beginning to recruit American players and stop allowing the talent from the Southeast to attend our rival universities.
"While many internationals choose a university in the six months post high school graduation, recruiting Americans is a three to four-year process, so the addition of our American student-athletes has been a process of building of relationship for the past three to four years and now reaping the results.
"And for the future, we have three top 20 American recruits along with our highest ITF junior player, Will Nolan, who is top 60 in the world. It's only going to get better in the next couple of years."
By continuing to emphasize the core values of loyalty, trust, belief and resilience, Auburn men's tennis is primed for a strong SEC season and a bright future.
Auburn opens SEC play at home Friday, February 26, hosting Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.