Auburn's Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett saw their bid for a national title come up just one shot short in a narrow three-set tiebreak loss in the NCAA doubles finals Friday afternoon at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Tiger tandem, ranked No. 26 nationally, faced three-seed Adam Walton and Pat Harper of Tennessee in the national final Friday, falling by a 7-6 (5), 2-6, 13-11 score.
"This was just an amazing run for Auburn. These guys poured their hearts out on the court today and I couldn't be more proud of them," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "I hurt for them and not being successful in the end, but they will grow tremendously from this opportunity.
"Finn and Tad always conduct themselves in a professional manner on and off the court and it's an honor to mentor these guys. I'm excited for their opportunities this summer with professional tournaments and returning another year for another deep run in the tournament."
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, but the Vols came back to tie the score at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and then 6-6. Tennessee jumped ahead in the tiebreaker 3-0, and, although Auburn got to a tie at 5-5, the Volunteers won 7-5, taking the first set. That 7-6 (5) margin was the same score Murgett and Maclean posted in defeating Walton and Harper during the regular season in March.
Auburn came back strong in the second set. The Tigers posted a 3-2 lead in the set before changing shirts in the 92-degree weather. After that, Murgett and Maclean came back from 0-40 to go up 4-2 and eventually win the set 6-2, setting up a third-set tiebreaker for the third time in four matches.
The 10-point tiebreaker set could not have been closer. Neither team could take more than a one-point advantage through an 11-11 tie; the Vols went ahead 12-11 and then were awarded match point, posting a 13-11 tiebreak win.
"It's been a great week and I'm so proud of us," Murgett said after the match. "In the middle of the match, after the first set, Coach Bobby said, 'Don't have any regrets' and that really hit hard. We knew we had an hour left.
"We went into the tournament with an open mind. We knew we could beat anyone in the draw, if we played as a unit and played our game on the court."
"It was such a tough match today, I don't think you could write it," Maclean added. "We left it all out there and I couldn't be prouder of us. Working with our coaches Bobby Reynolds and Chris Hooshyar, we've put in hard work off the court with those guys and our teammates and I think we set ourselves up to be in this position with our mentality -- thanks to our coaches for that. We've done unbelievably well this week."
Auburn's Mark Kovacs and Andy Columbo won the NCAA doubles title in 2002, the Tigers' best-ever finish. Maclean and Murgett earned All-America status, the first Auburn players to do so since Andreas Mies and Alex Stamchev in doubles in 2012.
The duo of Maclean, a junior from Cornwall, England, and Murgett, a sophomore from Holmfirth, England, finish the NCAA championships having gone 15-11 this spring at No. 1 doubles, facing 16 ranked teams, and 20-14 for the year.