No. 39 Auburn hits the road for a pair of key SEC matches this weekend.
The Tigers face No. 13 Kentucky Friday at 4 p.m. at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center in Lexington. On Sunday, Auburn meets No. 29 Vanderbilt in a noon match at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville.
"Kentucky's going to be very fast, and they play very similar to Arkansas indoors," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Big guys bombing serves, trying to get free points off their serve, taking first strikes, trying to go for a winner and put you on your heels very quickly -- hopefully, we've learned from Arkansas and we know what we need to do going in, but Kentucky has a great team. They're top 10 and their top guy got to the NCAA semis last year in singles, so they're very good, but even good teams are vulnerable.
"We had success last year against Vandy; I like a lot of the matchups we had last year and when we played them in a hidden dual in the fall. I think what we bring in that match is intensity -- our guys use that it's my alma mater as a little extra motivation to get a dig at me, but we have to be ready. They are quite a bit better than they were last year, especially lower in their lineup. Doubles is always important, but I think the key to the Vanderbilt match will be having success at four, five and six.
"I think it will be a great trip for us to be together as a team the whole weekend, playing as a unit and hopefully having success."
Auburn is 13-3 for the spring season, 2-1 in SEC play and ranked No. 39 in the latest ITA team ratings. Kentucky is 11-4 overall and 2-1 in SEC action, while Vanderbilt is 10-3 overall and 1-2 in SEC play.
In the latest ITA individual rankings, the Tigers continue to have three ranked players in singles: Tyler Stice (83), Tad Maclean (110) and Jan Galka (124). Maclean, with 63 career doubles wins, now ranks 10th all-time among Auburn career leaders in that category.
Kentucky has two ranked singles players – Gabriel Diallo (10) and Francois Musitelli (60) – and the Wildcats have one ranked doubles team in Liam Draxl and Millen Hurrion (61). For Vanderbilt, George Harwell is No. 39 in singles and the doubles team of Michael Ross and Siim Troost is ranked No. 76.
The Tigers' next home action is Friday, April 1, hosting No. 28 Mississippi State at 3 p.m. All Auburn home tennis action is at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (1717 Richland Road, Auburn) and admission is free.