AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's tennis completed the first two tournaments of the fall schedule at the SEC/Big Ten Challenge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as well as the USC Ranked Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina, over the weekend. In both events, which spanned from Friday to Sunday, Tigers players totaled eight singles matches and four doubles matches. Auburn also contributed to a 39-13 win for the SEC in the SEC/Big Ten Challenge.
"This weekend's tournaments provided us an opportunity to compete and evaluate where we are individually and as a team," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "Tyler showed his maturity and individual growth as a player against some of the best players in the country this weekend. He used his success from this summer's professional tournaments to prepare him for this weekend.
"The other take from this weekend was allowing our new coaching staff to spend quality time with our guys in huge pressure situations and help them grow as players. The success and failures will both help to fuel these next couple weeks of practice and take what we learned back to the practice court."
In Tuscaloosa, Raul Dobai and Will Nolan won all three of their doubles matches throughout the weekend over teams from Purdue, Michigan and Wisconsin. Dobai claimed singles victories over Daniel Labrador of Purdue and Mihailo Popovic of Wisconsin. Nolan defeated both Wisconsin's Oliver Olsson and Collin Beduhn in straight sets during the SEC victory.
At the USC Ranked Spotlight in Columbia, fifth-year senior Tyler Stice got off to a hot start with back-to-back singles victories over Martin Borisiouk of NC State and 87th ranked Jay Friend of Arizona on Friday. After a difficult second day on Saturday, the Tigers bounced back with a couple of singles wins and a doubles victory on Sunday.
Coming up next, Auburn will have players participating in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 29th-October 8th.
USC Ranked Tournament
Friday Results:
#33 Tyler Stice (AUB) def. Martin Borisiouk (NCST) 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
Inaki Cabrera (ARIZ) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
Alexander Keifer (UVA) def. #65 Alejandro Moreno (AUB) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
#33 Tyler Stice (AUB) def. #87 Jay Friend (ARIZ) 6-3, 6-2
#92 Nick Lagaev (ARIZ) def. #65 Alejandro Moreno (AUB) 6-4, 6-2
Benjamin Kittay (UNC) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Saturday Results:
#96 Filippo Moroni (WAKE) def. #33 Tyler Stice (AUB) 7-5, 6-4
Jake Krug (DUKE) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Connor Krug (DUKE) def. #65 Alejandro Moreno (AUB) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Casey Hoole/Jelani Sarr (SCAR) def. Billy Blaydes/Alejandro Moreno (AUB) 8-3
Luca Pow/Holden Koons (WAKE) def. Billy Blaydes/Alejandro Moreno (AUB) 8-1
Sunday Results:
Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Douglas Yaffa 6-2, 6-1
Jelani Sarr (SCAR) def. #33 Tyler Stice (AUB) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
#65 Alejandro Moreno (AUB) def. Carter Morgan (SCAR) 7-5, 6-2
Billy Blaydes/Alejandro Moreno (AUB) def. Gustaf Strom/Inaki Cabrera-Bello (ARIZ) 6-3
SEC/Big Ten Challenge
Friday Results:
Raul Dobai (AUB) def. Daniel Labrador (PUR) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1
Aleksa Krivokapic (PUR) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 7-6 (7), 6-4
Raul Dobai/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Daniel Labrador/Aleksa Krivokapic (PUR) 6-4
Saturday Results:
Raul Dobai (AUB) def. #83 Mihailo Popovic (WISC) 3-6, 3-1 (ret.)
Will Nolan (AUB) def. Oliver Olsson (WISC) 6-1, 6-4
Raul Dobai/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Alex Cairo/Jacob Bickersteth (MICH) default
Raul Dobai/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Oliver Olsson/Mihailo Popovic (WISC) 7-6 (4)
Sunday Results:
Will Nolan (AUB) def. Collin Beduhn (WISC) 6-1, 6-4
Jacob Bickersteth (MICH) def. Raul Dobai (AUB) 5-2 (ret.)