The No. 23 Auburn men's tennis team came up short in a close 4-2 match at Middle Tennessee State Friday evening, the Tigers' first loss of the season.
The Blue Raiders were the first opponent this season to take the doubles point from Auburn, earning the advantage in two of three closely played matches. Stepan Holis and Chris Edge were 6-3 winners over Raul Dobai and Maxwell Giddens on court three, and then Francisco Rocha and Oskar Poulsen outlasted Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett 6-4 on court one to clinch the point.
In singles, Finn Murgett quickly knotted the team score at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-3 court five victory for the Tigers over Poulsen, but MTSU extended its lead to 3-1, before Raul Dobai brought Auburn its second point with a three-set win on court four over Holis by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 margin.
The final two sets were extremely close. Auburn freshman Will Nolan forced a third set on court six against Motl and then battled him to a 5-5 tie before Motl clinched the team win for the Blue Raiders with a 7-5 win. On court two, Tyler Stice won his first set 7-5 over Francisco Rocha and was tied with him 6-6 in the second stanza before Rocha won the tiebreaker to leave that match unfinished after two sets.
The Tigers were ranked No. 23 in this week's Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 and are No. 24 in the latest ITA team ratings. Auburn is now 8-1 for the spring season, the best start for the Tigers since the 2005 campaign. Middle Tennessee State has a 10-3 record.
Auburn competes in the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic at Lagoon Park in Montgomery next Friday and Saturday; draws will be announced later next week.
MTSU 4, #23 Auburn 2
Singles
#61 Stijn Slump (MTSU) def. #84 Jan Galka (AU) 6-4, 7-6 (7)
#95 Tyler Stice (AU) v Francisco Rocha (MTSU) 7-5, 6-7 unfinished
Chris Edge (MTSU) def. #85 Tad Maclean (AU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Raul Dobai (AU) def. Stepan Holis (MTSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Finn Murgett (AU) def. Oskar Poulsen (MTSU) 6-4, 6-3
Pavel Motl (MTSU) def. Will Nolan (AU) 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
Doubles
Rocha/Paulsen (MTSU) def. Murgett/Maclean (AU) 6-4
#46 Galka/Stice (AU) v Motl/Slump (MTSU) 4-5
Holis/Edge (MTSU) def. Dobai/Maxwell Giddens (AU) 6-3
Time of match: 2:59; Order of finish: Doubles: 3-1; Singles: 5,3,1,4,6