MONTGOMERY, Ala. – No. 36 men's tennis is set to make the short trip to Montgomery, Alabama to take part in the annual Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic on Friday and Saturday. The event will take place at both the Lagoon Park Tennis Facility and the O'Connor Tennis Center.
"The Blue-Gray is a tournament that our guys absolutely love," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "From the physicality standpoint of it, it's a tough weekend for us. We will play three matches in two days, so it's nonstop for 48 hours. I like that we have a lot of depth where you have a guy that might play a singles and doubles, then when he's tired, we have a guy that we can put in there that is not going to change our level."
The eight men's teams that will be participating in the bracket-style tournament are No. 14 Arizona, Nebraska, No. 38 Alabama, No. 41 Oklahoma, Tulane, No. 25 Middle Tennessee, No. 44 Texas Tech and Auburn. The Tigers have drawn Texas Tech to play first on Friday, and that match will be played at 9:00 a.m. CT at the Lagoon Park Tennis Facility.
Auburn freshman Alejandro Moreno will look to continue his impressive play in singles for Auburn, as he holds a 6-1 dual singles record and has won each of his last five matches. Junior Finn Murgett will put his perfect 4-0 singles record in dual play on the line on Friday as well.
Murgett and Raul Dobai have won three straight matches on the doubles court including back-to-back ranked wins over No. 36 Younes Lalami and Brandon Perez from Old Dominion as well as the 21st ranked duo of Michael Minasyan and Gabriel Huber from Wisconsin. In their latest rankings that were announced on Tuesday, the ITA tabbed Murgett and Dobai as the 46th best doubles team in the nation.
The Red Raiders will enter the match with a 5-4 record and riding a three-match winning streak. Lorenzo Esquici currently leads the team in singles with a perfect 6-0 record. Also, the Texas Tech doubles team of Piotr Pawlak and Franco Ribero hold a 7-2 record and have won five consecutive matches.
Between all eight men's teams in the field, there are 14 ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams represented.
Auburn's complete match against Texas Tech as well as the doubles portion of their next match will be played on Friday, then the singles portion of the second match and the final match will be played on Saturday at the Lagoon Park Tennis Facility and the O'Connor Tennis Center. Live scoring for all matches will be available online at bluegraytennis.com.
