The No. 24 Auburn men's tennis team fell 4-1 to host No. 8 Wake Forest Saturday in the second round of NCAA play at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"It's always tough closing the book on another year," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. "Looking back at today's match, we definitely gave ourselves a chance to pull off the upset, but we just fell short in extending some matches to allow specific positions to get on the scoreboard. Give credit to Wake Forest, which is playing with a very senior team and they played an aggressive game style of tennis today.
"This team has made some amazing progress over the past couple of years and established Auburn men's tennis as a top tennis program. We've accomplished some significant milestones this season and we will benefit from these experiences next year and beyond as we grow together. As a coach, I couldn't be more proud to work with these guys. They've truly left their mark on and off the court this season."
Wake Forest took the doubles point with 6-3 wins on courts three and two, and added the first two singles points in straight-set 6-4, 6-2 victories on courts six and four.
Senior Tad Maclean put Auburn on the scoreboard with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over #61 Eduardo Nava on court three. Auburn also captured the first set on court one, as Tyler Stice did so by a 7-5 score; Stice was leading his second set 5-3 when the team match was clinched.
On court five, Finn Murgett won a second-set tiebreaker 7-4 to force a third set. Jan Galka forced a first-set tiebreaker on court two, but came up short 7-4 in that extra period, and the Demon Deacons won that match to take the team victory by a 4-1 score.
The Tigers finish the season at 21-11; this is Auburn's first 20-win season since 2002. After reaching the SEC tournament semifinals, the Tigers are ranked No. 24 in the latest ITA team ratings and No. 22 in the Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25. No. 8 Wake Forest is now 33-6 and will advance to next weekend's Super Regional at Kentucky.
Stice, Maclean and Murgett will begin NCAA individual championship play later this month at the University of Illinois.
#8 Wake Forest 4, #24 Auburn 1
Singles
#18 Tyler Stice (AU) v #89 Jurabek Karimov (WF) 7-5, 5-3 unfinished
Melios Efstathiou (WF) def. Jan Galka (AU) 7-6 (4), 6-2
#118 Tad Maclean (AU) def. #61 Eduardo Nava (WF) 7-5, 6-4
Rrezart Cungu (WF) def. Raul Dobai (AU) 6-4, 6-2
Finn Murgett (AU) v Jakob Schnaitter (WF) 2-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 unfinished
Sid Banthia (WF) def. Will Nolan (AU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
#6 Murgett/Maclean (AU) v Nava/Maciag (WF) 4-5 unfinished
#34 Banthia/Schnaitter (WF) def. Galka/Stice (AU) 6-3
Matt Thomson/Ben Draper (WF) def. Dobai/Jackson Ross (AU) 6-3
Time of match: 2:20; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2; Singles: 6,4,3,2