AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn will be back at the Yarbrough Tennis Center three home matches over the weekend. The Tigers will face rival No. 23 Alabama on Friday at 3 p.m. CT, then No. 14 Mississippi State and Alabama A&M at noon CT and 4 p.m. CT on Sunday.
"We've been really successful playing at home and I'm hopeful we get back to that in our last matches against some of the best in the conference," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "Hopefully that relaxes the guys. Playing at Yarbrough and playing in front of our home crowd will help relax the mind and in those big pressure moments, we're able to distance ourselves and take some energy from the crowd to help us push through."
Auburn will look to bounce back at home after dropping its last three matches on the road to Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Arkansas. Currently, the Tigers' SEC record of 4-4 is the fifth best in the conference. Sophomore Billy Blaydes has continued to be consistent for the Tigers, as he has won each of his last nine singles matches and has a team-best 16-3 singles dual match record.
Alabama will enter Friday's match with a 15-10 overall record and just below Auburn in the SEC standings with a 4-5 conference record. The two teams faced each other earlier this season at the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic in February.
In that match, Finn Murgett defeated Enzo Aguiard 6-0, 6-0 and Will Nolan bested Matic Dimic 6-5, 7-6 (5), but the Tigers fell 4-2 in a close match in Montgomery, Alabama. Last weekend, the Crimson Tide dropped both of their road matches to No. 8 Tennessee and No. 13 Mississippi State. The team dropped from 21st to 23rd in the ITA team rankings.
Alabama has three singles players in the ITA rankings, including No. 48 Flilip Plannisek. Plannisek holds an 18-11 overall record and a 11-9 record at the top of the Tide's singles lineup.
On Sunday, Auburn will host a doubleheader against Mississippi State and Alabama A&M. Mississippi State currently have a 15-5 overall record and an impressive 7-2 record in conference play. The team is in the midst of a four-match winning streak, with wins over Ole Miss and Alabama on Friday and Sunday.
Auburn will look to snap a nine-match losing streak against Mississippi State, as its last win over the Bulldogs was at the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic in 2014.
Friday will be Auburn's annual "All Auburn, All Orange" match and fans in attendance will receive a free T-shirt and are encouraged to wear orange. Sunday will be Kids' Day at the Yarbrough Tennis Center and fans in attendance will receive free Kona Ice during the doubles point.
Live video and live stats of all three matches will be available online at AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Tigers app.