A 3:47 marathon match came out in favor of the homestanding No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs in a narrow 4-3 win over No. 28 Auburn Friday evening at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens; that will also be the site of the SEC tournament next week.
"This is a tough one to lose down the stretch, but I'm proud of the battle out of this team until the very end," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "We gave ourselves an opportunity to pull off the win, but give credit to UFA for their resilience in the later stages of matches. We will continue to learn for each situation and match and grow for the future."
The Tigers wasted no time putting the first point on the scoreboard with two doubles wins. The No. 16-ranked duo of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett pushed their SEC record to 9-1 with a quick 6-2 victory over No. 63 Hamish Stewart and Tristan McCormick. On court three, Auburn's combination of Josh Raab and Maxwell Giddens was too tough for Blake Croyder and Erik Grevelius, defeating the Bulldogs by a 6-3 margin.
Murgett was first to score for Auburn in singles as well, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory on court five over Blake Croyder to run Murgett's SEC record to 8-2 this season. Maclean and Raul Dobai forced third sets in their matches, and Dobai prevailed for a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Trent Bryde to tie the team score at 3-3.
Freshman Will Nolan had just captured his second set 7-5 over Miguel Perez Pena on court six and the third set on that court would determine the match. The players traded leads and were tied at 4-4 and 5-5 before Perez Pena slipped ahead from deuce to take a 6-5 lead and then the 7-5 victory.
Auburn is 18-8 for the spring season, 5-6 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 16-6 overall and 8-3 in conference action; the Bulldogs are also No. 11 in this week's Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 poll.
On Sunday, Auburn plays a noon CT match vs. No. 5 Tennessee (19-6, 7-4) at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville that will conclude the regular season. Pairings for the SEC tournament at Georgia April 20-24 will be released Sunday evening.
Maclean, with 70 career doubles wins, now ranks ninth all-time among Auburn career leaders in that category, and his 134 combined career wins rank 13th in Auburn history. Galka now has 100 combined victories for his career, 62 at Auburn and 38 at Louisiana.
#11 Georgia 4, #28 Auburn 3
Singles
#14 Hamish Stewart (UGA) def. #34 Tyler Stice (AU) 6-3, 6-1
#47 Philip Henning (UGA) def. Jan Galka (AU) 6-0, 6-2
#79 Tristan McCormick (UGA) def. #124 Tad Maclean (AU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Raul Dobai (AU) def. #107 Trent Bryde (UGA) 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4
Finn Murgett (AU) def. Blake Croyder (UGA) 6-3, 6-2
Miguel Perez Pena (UGA) def. Will Nolan (AU) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
Doubles
#16 Murgett/Maclean (AU) def. #63 McCormick/Stewart (UGA) 6-2
Galka/Stice (AU) v #27 Bryde/Henning (UGA) 4-4 unfinished
Josh Raab/Maxwell Giddens (AU) def. Croyder/Erik Grevelius (UGA) 6-3
Time of match: 3:47; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 2,5,1,3,4,6
