New season features new faces for men’s tennis

Last season, Auburn tennis supporters watched many familiar faces conclude collegiate tennis careers. The 2023-24 squad featured two veterans in their fifth seasons on the Plains, Tyler Stice and Finn Murgett, lead the Tigers to their first NCAA Second Round appearance since 2012. On top of the two players in their fifth season at Auburn, another veteran presence, Raul Dobai, also finished his time as a collegiate player and made the transition to the team’s coaching staff.

Stice, Murgett and Dobai had made names for themselves at Auburn as well as in the world of college tennis. Stice tallied an 80-69 overall singles record and finished his career inside the program’s top-15 in career combined victories, singles victories and doubles victories while earning All-SEC selections four times. Murgett is also prevalent in the Tigers’ record book, ranking tied for sixth in career doubles wins with 78 and tied for ninth in career singles wins with 79. Dobai concluded his college career with 97 combined victories and a couple of NCAA Doubles Championship invitations.

Now, Auburn fans will get to enjoy watching another group of young tennis players grow and improve over the next few years at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. Alex Frusina, Joey Phillips, Thomas Kennedy and Max Pettingell arrived on the university’s campus in August and have fit right into the Auburn Family. Each of them will be critical to the team’s success in some way during the spring.

“It’s exciting to get a new group of guys, and being able to use this time in the fall to help mold them,” said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. “Ultimately, whatever we’re doing now is going to pay dividends in the spring. They come to Auburn with a huge sense of gratitude and can’t wait to play for this team. That’s what we look for when we’re recruiting guys.

Frusina joined the Tigers from Conroe, Texas, with a stellar tennis resume prior to making the move east. At the time of his signing, Frusina was the sixth ranked recruit in the nation and No. 20 in the ITF junior rankings. He claims four ITF doubles titles and made an appearance at the 2023 U.S. Open in men’s doubles.

“He comes to us as probably one of the biggest recruits that we've had under my tenure, and I think through our history of American players,” Reynolds said. “He's a type of player that has aspirations to play at the next level and has the game to do it. He has that kind of belief in himself and that desire and work ethic that is going to help propel him do great things.”

Frusina’s love for Auburn was evident before he even enrolled in classes. Alex’s social media accounts could have fooled you into thinking he had grown up as an avid Auburn fan, but the reality is that he had no connection to the school before visiting campus as a recruit. Reynolds notes that his passion to play for the brand is a great indicator of things to come.

Phillips, the 12^th ranked recruit in the country at the time of his signing, also made the move from nearby Atlanta in August. He and Frusina headlined Coach Reynolds’ ninth-ranked recruiting class in the nation according to Tennis Recruiting Network. The ranking is the best that Auburn has signed since TRN started providing rankings.

Phillips is also a blue-chip recruit and holds a career-high ITF junior ranking of 108^th. Reynolds also plans to use Phillips in a big way during the 2024-25 season.

“Joey is so raw - just the way that the ball can come off his strings is huge,” Reynolds said. “Since a young age, there is just that raw power and his ability to work the ball. That's unique to him, especially him being lefty. The way the ball comes off his forehand, you're able to have great success against right-handers usually with that type of power and penetration.”

Brothers will be uniting on the team this season as Thomas Kennedy, brother of Jake Kennedy, has transferred to the Tigers from Furman University.

Kennedy was selected to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team in 2022-23 after earning 10 singles victories and 11 doubles victories. The following season, Kennedy posted a 10-10 singles dual match record and a 6-1 mark in SoCon matches playing primarily at No. 2 in the lineup. He also went 11-9 in doubles dual matches regularly at the top of the Paladin doubles lineup.

"He comes with two years of experience in college tennis and played at the top of the lineup at Furman last year in singles and doubles,” Reynolds said, “You know, it's very hard to replicate experience in college tennis. It's a different game in the sense that you're playing for a team and you're no longer playing individually. So the emotion and the pressure, it's learned through seniority. He comes to us with that, and also he just loves the game.”

The Tigers’ fourth newcomer is freshman Max Pettingell from Sarasota, Florida. Pettingell is a four-time National Ball Winner, but turned heads this summer by winning the USTA 18S National Clay Court Doubles crown.

“I probably would have to say he's the best teammate that I see in the locker room right now,” Reynolds said. “He's still 18 years old, so he’s one of those guys that could have been held back but did not. Using this year to come in, to develop, to put himself against some of the best guys and continually practice. He's just somebody you can help mold him and turn him into the player you want him to be.”