AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's Tyler Stice was named Senior Player of the Year and Finn Murgett was named Most Improved Player for the ITA's Southern Region, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced on Wednesday.
Stice becomes the first Auburn player to win the region's Senior Player of the Year Award since Tim Puetz in 2011 while Murgett becomes the first to win the Southern Region Most Improved Player since Daniel Cochrane in 2014, when the award was limited to seniors only.
Tyler Stice came back for his fifth season on the Plains and posted a 14-10 dual match singles record and was awarded first-team All-SEC honors for a fourth consecutive season in 2024.
In dual matches, Stice remained primarily at the top of the Auburn singles lineup and picked up five ranked singles wins including No. 18 Leo Raquin of Middle Tennessee and No. 22 Raphael Perot of Texas A&M. Stice's dramatic 5-7, 7-6 (10), 7-6 (2) win over Alabama's Filip Planinsek also clinched a rivalry win for the Tigers on April 5. The Atlanta, Georgia native came in at No. 34 in the final ITA singles rankings announced on May 29.
In doubles, Stice played primarily at No. 3 in the Tigers' lineup where he accumulated at 13-10 record and a 5-4 record in SEC matches.
Stice's collegiate career finished with an 80-69 overall singles record and a 78-46 overall doubles record. The Atlanta, Georgia native concluded his time on the Plains inside the program's top-15 in career combined victories, singles victories and doubles victories.
In his final season at Auburn, Murgett recorded a singles record of 20-4 and a doubles record of 12-12 for the Tigers this season after posting an 11-7 dual match record primarily playing at No. 4 and No. 3 last season.
Murgett posted a perfect 6-0 at the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup before being moved up to No. 2 later in the season. Murgett defeated four ranked singles opponents this season and was given SEC Player of the Week honors on April 15. The fifth-year senior achieved an ITA singles ranking of 60th on April 16, his career-high.
In doubles, Murgett remained at the top spot in the Auburn doubles lineup in his final season, paired primarily with Raul Dobai. Murgett and Dobai posted an 11-11 record together this season and a 6-3 record against SEC opponents. The pair have defeated No. 4 Angel Diaz and Johannus Monday of Tennessee, No. 10 Toby Samuel and Casey Hoole of South Carolina as well as No. 15 Giulio Perego and Togan Tokac of Texas A&M this season. Murgett and Dobai were ranked 20st in the nation in the ITA's final doubles rankings on May 29.
Murgett, through five seasons on the Plains, posted 78 doubles victories and 79 singles victories. He ranks tied for sixth in career doubles wins and tied for ninth in career singles wins in program history.
Stice and Murgett become the first Auburn players to win a regional honor since 2014. Bobby Reynolds and Chris Hooshyar were the most recent regional award winners from Auburn in 2022, winning the southern region's Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively.
