AUBURN, Ala. – No. 35 Auburn will play its first home conference matches over the weekend at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, facing Florida on Friday at 3 p.m. and South Carolina on Sunday at noon CT. The Tigers will enter the matchup after earning the program's first win over Georgia in Athens since 1994 on Sunday.
Fifth-year senior Tyler Stice guided the Tigers to victory, coming back after dropping the opening set to defeat No. 80 Thomas Paulsell on court one to clinch the historic win. With Auburn leading 3-2 and both remaining singles matches in a third set, Stice defeated Pursell for his third ranked singles win of the season by a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 score.
"It'll be great to be back at home," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "Starting with Florida, they are a young team but a very talented team. We have to be ready for them because from a talent standpoint, they're one of the best in the conference but there are those factors of the longevity of the season and playing on the road that you don't see on paper."
After a promising SEC opening weekend that featured two wins for Florida, the 25th ranked Gators will look to rebound this weekend after suffering 1-6 road losses to both top-10 opponents Kentucky and Tennessee on Friday and Sunday.
The Gators' singles lineup has been shuffled a few times this season, with Jeremy Jin receiving the nod for the top spot in each of the last four matches. Jin, who is ranked 97th in singles by the ITA, holds a 14-6 overall singles record this season and is 7-1 in dual matches for Florida.
Florida has controlled the series against Auburn as of late, winning both the regular season match in Gainesville and the SEC Championships match last season. The last time the Tigers defeated the Gators was 2013.
"Looking at South Carolina, we've always battled with them and we've had some great success with them in the past," continued Reynolds. "They're not a team that we are scared of, no matter what their ranking is. When you have confidence against an opponent that you've played and had success against, you just have a different mindset when you are playing."
Auburn's Sunday opponent, South Carolina moved up eight spots in the latest ITA team rankings after defeating Arkansas on Sunday by a 4-3 score. The Gamecocks currently hold a 7-7 overall record and a 1-2 record in SEC matches this season.
One of the biggest highlights of Auburn's season in 2023 was defeating then-No. 4 South Carolina in Columbia by a 4-3 score. In that match, the Tigers overcame a 3-1 deficit by claiming three consecutive singles wins. One of those wins was Stice, who defeated Toby Samuel, who was the 3rd ranked singles player in the nation at the time, in three sets. Auburn has defeated South Carolina in each of the last two meetings and controls the all-time series 23-20.
Friday's match against Florida is slated to begin at 3 p.m. CT while Sunday's match against South Carolina is scheduled for noon CT. Both matches will be held at the Yarbrough Tennis Center where attendance is free. Live video and live scoring of each match will be available online at AuburnTigers.com and in the Auburn Tigers app.
