BATON ROUGE, La. – Auburn junior Billy Blaydes and senior Will Nolan defeated the top-ranked doubles team in the nation to earn the doubles title at the ITA Regional Championships on Monday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The win secures the two a spot in the field at the 2024 NCAA Doubles Championship later this fall. Blaydes also finished the event as a semifinalist.
With the victory, Blaydes and Nolan become the first Auburn doubles team to win the Southern Regional title since Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev in 2009.
“Auburn men’s tennis has a proud tradition of competing in the NCAA Doubles Championship and this year, Billy and Will have carried that legacy forward with tremendous growth and success,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said after the tournament. “Their commitment and hard work this fall have been inspiring and their achievement is a testament to the strength of our program and their personal dedication to excellence.”
Blaydes and Nolan, the eight-seeded team in the doubles main draw, won five matches to punch their ticket to the championship in Waco, Texas. The Auburn duo began their run with an 8-6 win over Izan Orgiles and Nazar Fedoryshyn of North Alabama on Friday. On Saturday, Blaydes and Nolan won 8-4 before upsetting the tournament’s two-seed, No. 18 Zach Foster and Andrii Zimnokh of Alabama, 8-6.
𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘿𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙨 🏆
— Auburn Men's Tennis (@AuburnMTennis) October 21, 2024
Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan will be in the field at the NCAA Doubles Championship! #WarEagle #AuburnBeingAuburn pic.twitter.com/85SuOlXx1M
A 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Mississippi State’s Mario Martinez Serrano and Niccolo Baroni in the semifinals set up a match with another Mississippi State duo, No. 1 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, in the finals. Blaydes and Nolan won the first set in a tiebreaker before Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez responded with a 6-4 win in the second set. The veteran Tigers then won a tight third-set tiebreaker 11-9 to clinch the title.
Blaydes also had a successful tournament on the singles side of the event, reaching the semifinal round of the singles main draw. Blaydes picked up two straight-set victories to begin the tournament before defeating Baroni, the seven seed, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinal round. The Auburn junior then took down South Alabama’s Javier Montoya behind a dominant second-set by a 7-6 (1), 6-0 score. Blaydes then fell to the one-seeded Jovanovic in the semifinals.
Thomas Kennedy and Nicholas Heng earned an opening round victory in the doubles main draw over Braden Hanning and Juan Accossatto of South Alabama as well as a second round win over Kotaro Matsumura and Colin Tavares of Nicholls State before falling in the round of 16.
Thomas Kennedy punched his ticket to the event’s singles main draw through two wins in the qualifying rounds on Wednesday, while Heng and freshman Alex Frusina earned opening round victories in the singles main draw before bowing out of the draw.
Up next, Auburn will play in two different events Nov. 1-3. The Tigers will have participants in both the Georgia Tech Fall Invite in Atlanta as well as the Wake Forest Fall Invite in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Wednesday Results:
Jake Kennedy (AUB) def. Samuel Kyjaci (ULL) 6-1, 6-2
Thomas Kennedy (AUB) def. Gordon Mileusnic (ASU) 6-1, 6-3
Saheb Sodhi (USM) def. Jake Kennedy (AUB) 6-3, 6-2
Thomas Kennedy (AUB) def. Sebastian Harrison (SAM) 6-4, 4-1
Thursday Results:
Thomas Kennedy/Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Braden Hannig/Juan Accossatto (USA) 8-7(3)
Jake Kennedy/Alex Frusina (AUB) def. Satoru Nakajima/Lachlan Brain (UNA) 8-7(6)
Blaydes (AUB) def. Mail (UNO), 6-4, 6-0
Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Saheb Sodhi (USM), 6-1, 6-3
Ponce de Leon Gomila (ALA) def. Will Nolan (AUB), 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2
Loan Lestir (MISS) def. Thomas Kennedy (AUB), 7-6 (5), 6-2
Niklas Jensen (SO MISS) def. Jake Kennedy (AUB), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7)
Friday Results:
Thomas Kennedy/Nicholas Heng(AUB) def. Kotaro Matsumura/Colin Tavares (NICH), 8-4
#1 Petar Jovanovic/Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSU) def. Jake Kennedy/Alex Frusina (AUB), 8-4
Will Nolan/Billy Blaydes(AUB) def. Izan Orgiles/Nazar Fedoryshyn (UNA), 8-6
Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Juan Pablo Valdez Guzon (UAB) 6-4, 6-4
David Jeanne-Grandinot (ASU) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3)
Julien Penzlin (LSU) def. Alex Frusina (AUB) 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-2 (ret.)
Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Niccolo Baroni (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
Alessio Vasquez Gehrke (LSU) def. Thomas Kennedy (AUB), 6-2,6-4
Jake Kennedy (AUB) def Augustin Marquez (AAMU) 6-1, 6-4
Saturday Results:
Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Javier Montoya (USA) 7-6 (1), 6-0
#20 Julien Penzlin/Aleksi Lofman (LSU) def. Thomas Kennedy/Nicholas Heng (AUB), 8-4
Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Radomir Tomic/Michal Novanky (MSST), 8-4
Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #18 Andrii Zimnokh/Zach Foster (ALA), 8-6
Alex Frusina (AUB) def. Juan Accossatto (USA) 7-5, 6-1
Darius Balan (ULL) def. Jake Kennedy (AUB) 1-6, 7-5 [10-3]
Sunday Results:
#12 Petar Jovanovic (MISS) def. Billy Blaydes (MSST) 6-1, 6-2
Will Nolan/Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Mario Martinez Sarrano/Niccolo Baroni 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Monday Results:
Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #1 Petar Jovanovic/Benito Sanchez Martinez 7-6 (1), 4-6 [11-9]
#60 Mario Martinez Serrano (MSST) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 7-6 (4), 6-3