The No. 28 Auburn men's tennis team finishes the regular season with a pair of SEC road matches against Top 11 opponents this weekend.
The Tigers visit No. 11 Georgia for a 4 p.m. CT match Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens; that will also be the site of the SEC tournament next week.
On Sunday, Auburn plays a noon CT match vs. No. 5 Tennessee at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville. Pairings for the SEC tournament will be released Sunday evening.
"It's about shifting the goals at this point," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "We've checked off one goal, so what can we do to keep it fresh? What challenges can we put in front of us with this last bit of the regular season, the postseason and obviously going into NCAAs?
"This weekend, when we go up against Tennessee, when we go up against Georgia, we need to use this as an opportunity to get a top 16 win that I don't think this program has had in a long time. But also, that's going to be the barrier we have to get through come NCAA time and the first round of regionals. We're going to have to beat a top 16 team if we want to get to the Super Regionals.
"This weekend, it's definitely going to take [winning] the doubles. We lost the doubles to Georgia last year and were still almost able to win four singles. For that match, flipping the doubles would be a huge benefit for us – the same at Tennessee.
"Against these top teams, you might get one opportunity. If you don't take that opportunity, that window is shut and you'll be scrapping and clawing to stay on, because you don't know if you're going to get another opportunity that set. That's where we have to capitalize and be willing to go for it.
"I look at Tyler (Stice), who maybe started off a little slower from the fall to the beginning of the spring. But over the last 5-6 matches, he's catching his form, and he's scary. He's tough when he is hitting on all cylinders and making it an intense battle and ripping the ball. I will put him up against anybody in the country at No. 1 when he has the confidence in himself."
Auburn is 18-7 for the spring season, 5-5 in SEC play and ranked No. 28 in the latest ITA team ratings and No. 24 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25.
No. 11 Georgia is 15-6 overall and 7-3 in conference action; the Bulldogs are also No. 11 in this week's Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 poll.
No. 5 Tennessee is ranked No. 9 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 poll; the Volunteers are 18-6 overall and 6-4 in SEC action before their match with Alabama Friday.
In the latest ITA individual rankings, Tyler Stice is 34th in singles and Tad Maclean is 124th. Maclean and Finn Murgett are ranked No. 16 nationally as a doubles tandem, the second-highest ranking of any SEC doubles team.
Maclean, with 69 career doubles wins, now ranks ninth all-time among Auburn career leaders in that category, and his 133 combined career wins rank 13th in Auburn history.
Georgia has four ranked singles players – Hamish Stewart (14), Philip Henning (47), Tristan McCormick (79) and Trent Bryde (107) – and three ranked doubles combinations as well. Those are Bryde/Henning (27), McCormick/Stewart (63) and Henning/Stewart (83).
For the Volunteers, Johannus Monday (8), Adam Walton (12) and Emile Hudd (75) are ranked in singles, while Hudd and Shunsake Mitsui are No. 32 and Pat Harper and Adam Walton, who were Maclean and Murgett's NCAA finals opponents last spring, are No. 43 in doubles.
