The No. 25 Auburn men's tennis team opened SEC play at home Friday morning with a decisive 5-2 victory over No. 42 LSU at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn. It gave Auburn a 1-0 conference start and was Auburn's first win over LSU since the 2014 season.
"It was good. This was a match we needed to get ahead on," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "We put in a hard week of practice this week, striking a lot of balls. We challenged our guys and it paid dividends.
"We kept fighting throughout the match and that's what we need to build on going forward. It was a full team effort today. LSU is solid and can be dangerous, but we got the doubles point and then Finn and Raul got straight set wins in singles and that gave everybody else some room."
Auburn put the initial point on the scoreboard, taking the doubles point. Although LSU was a 6-2 winner in match three, Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett posted a 6-3 win in match one and Auburn's Jan Galka and Tyler Stice clinched the team point with a 6-3 victory in match two.
With his doubles win, Maclean moved into the Auburn career top 15 for doubles victories; the senior now has 61 career doubles wins.
Murgett was first on the scoreboard in singles, posting a 6-3, 6-2 victory on court six over Boris Kozlov, Murgett's ninth singles victory of the spring. Raul Dobai followed quickly with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court four over Joao Graca to give Auburn a 3-0 team lead.
Four of the singles matches went into a third set. On court one, Stice, after an early 0-3 deficit, rallied to win his second set 6-3 and forced a third set against 35th-ranked Ronnie Hohmann, which Stice captured 6-2 to clinch the team match.
Galka, playing on court two for Auburn against Vlad Lobak, also came back after a first-set deficit to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 for his ninth victory of the spring. LSU won two matches after the team win was decided, making the final score 5-2.
Auburn is 11-2 for the spring season; the Tigers are ranked No. 25 in the latest ITA team ratings. No. 42 LSU is 7-3.
The Tigers entertain Indiana Monday in a 1 p.m. match at home. All Auburn home tennis action is at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (1717 Richland Road, Auburn) and admission is free. Fans Monday will receive free All Auburn All Orange t-shirts while supplies last.
#25 Auburn 5, #42 LSU 2
Singles
#87 Tyler Stice (AU) def. #35 Ronnie Hohmann (LSU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
#100 Jan Galka (AU) def. Vlad Lobak (LSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Kent Hunter (LSU) def. #45 Tad Maclean (AU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Raul Dobai (AU) def. Joao Graca (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
Gabi Diaz Freire (LSU) def. Will Nolan (AU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Finn Murgett (AU) def. Boris Kozlov (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
Murgett/Maclean (AU) def. Hohmann/Lobak (LSU) 6-3
Galka/Stice (AU) def. Diaz Freire/Hunter (LSU) 6-3
Kozlov/Watson (LSU) def. Dobai/Maxwell Giddens (AU) 6-2
Time of match: 3:06; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1,2; Singles: 6,4,1,2,3,6