The No. 25 Auburn men's tennis team swept the Indiana Hoosiers 7-0 Monday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
"This was a good test today and we battled," Auburn assistant coach Chris Hooshyar said. "We're really happy with all 10 guys and how they all rally around one another. We had a couple of courts that didn't start how they wanted, but they stuck with it and their teammates encouraged them and they got it done.
"Indiana is a good indoor team and they really come at you in doubles. That will be good preparation for our match Friday at Arkansas, who comes at you right from the start and that match might also be indoors. It's not going to be easy, so this was another learning experience."
After rain moved the match indoors, the Tigers wasted no time in grabbing the doubles point for the 12th time this season. Playing together for the first time, Maxwell Giddens and Will Nolan posted a 6-3 victory on court three over Michael Andre and Luka Vukovic, and then the Tigers' top tandem of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett dispatched Carson Haskins and Vikash Singh on court one by a score of 6-4.
In singles, Murgett was again first to the finish, posting a quick 6-0, 6-1 victory over Ilya Tiraspolsky on court four. Freshman Will Nolan gave Auburn a 3-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Vikash Singh on court five, and Jan Galka clinched the match for the Tigers with a 6-1, 7-5 decision over Patrick Fletchall on court two.
After the team match was clinched, the remaining three singles matches went into third-set 10-point tiebreakers. Tyler Stice prevailed on court one over Carson Haskins in a 10-5 tiebreaker, and on court six, Jackson Ross traded points with the Hoosiers' Michael Andre before Ross outlasted the opponent 11-9 in his tiebreaker for a 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 win. Tad Maclean finished the sweep for Auburn with a 10-4 tiebreak score.
Auburn returns to conference play on the road Friday at No. 57 Arkansas and concludes the week at home Sunday hosting Alabama in a 1 p.m. match at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Auburn is 12-2 for the spring season and ranked No. 25 in the latest ITA team ratings. Indiana is now 5-6 this spring.
#25 Auburn 7, Indiana 0
Singles
#87 Tyler Stice (AU) def. Carson Haskins (IU) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5)
#100 Jan Galka (AU) def. Patrick Fletchall (IU) 6-1, 7-5
#45 Tad Maclean (AU) def. Luka Vukovic (IU) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-4)
Finn Murgett (AU) def. Ilya Tiraspolsky (IU) 6-0, 6-1
Will Nolan (AU) def. Vikash Singh (IU) 6-3, 6-1
Jackson Ross (AU) def. Michael Andre (IU) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles
Murgett/Maclean (AU) def. Haskins/Singh (IU) 6-4
Galka/Stice (AU) v Fletchall/Tiraspolsky (IU) 6-5 unfinished
Nolan/Maxwell Giddens (AU) def. Andre/Vukovic (IU) 6-3
Time of match: 2:47; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 4,5,2,1,6,3; Official: Donna Jerome
