AUBURN, Ala. – No. 21 Men's tennis will travel north to face 56th ranked Vanderbilt on Friday and 5th ranked Kentucky on Sunday. Auburn moved into the ITA top-25 for the first time this season after upsetting both Florida and South Carolina at the Yarbrough Tennis Center over the weekend.
"It's going to be a tough weekend for these guys," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said about the upcoming road trip. "How we prepare this week and how we approach that Friday match against Vanderbilt will have a carry-over effect into the Kentucky match on Sunday."
The Tigers will look to continue their positive momentum from back-to-back upsets that propelled them from No. 35 to No. 21 in the ITA team rankings. Fifth-year senior Finn Murgett posted a perfect weekend for the Tigers, winning both doubles matches with partner Raul Dobai as well as both singles matches.
Redshirt freshman Nicholas Heng also won both of his singles matches over the weekend, including a clinching win on Friday. Heng was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his pivotal singles wins.
"The Friday match against Vanderbilt is going to be a challenge because we're playing a team that has nothing to lose right now," continued Reynolds. "We're actually going to be playing at Ensworth High School, so we aren't going to be playing on the Vanderbilt campus with a lot of fans, so it's going to take a lot of motivation within to make sure we approach that match well."
The Commodores have a 10-7 record this season, but have struggled in SEC play, winning one of their five conference matches. The one conference win came Sunday against Ole Miss, a team that Auburn beat in its SEC opener on the road.
Danil Panarin, who is ranked 85th in singles by the ITA, typically plays at the top of the Vanderbilt singles lineup and has a 10-4 dual match record. He recently upset then-No. 24 Taha Baadi of Kentucky in straight sets.
After playing Vanderbilt in Nashville on Friday, Auburn will continue north to play No. 5 Kentucky, the defending SEC Champions, on Sunday in Lexington. The Wildcats are 14-2 this season and are a perfect 5-0 in conference play. The winners of seven consecutive matches most recently defeated No. 10 Texas A&M on Friday at home.
Baadi is Kentucky's lone ranked singles player at No. 36 while Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer make up the Wildcat's top doubles team and are ranked 23rd in the nation. Baadi holds a 9-4 dual match singles record this season, including six wins against ranked opponents.
Auburn's Friday match against Vanderbilt will begin at 4 p.m. CT at the Ensworth Tennis Center where live scoring will be available online at ioncourt.com. Auburn will face No. 5 Kentucky at noon CT on Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. Live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at ukathletics.com.