AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's Tyler Stice and Finn Murgett will participate in the NCAA Singles Championship, which begins on Monday while Murgett and Raul Dobai will be in the field for the NCAA Doubles Championship beginning on Tuesday at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
"It's a great opportunity for these guys," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "Tyler [Stice] has played in this tournament for the last three years and I'm hopeful for him to get a couple of wins for that All-American status that he deserves. Hopefully, he goes in with a free attitude with no pressure and nothing to lose. This will be his last tournament as a college player, so he should let everything go."
The singles championship includes 64 players and will be six rounds with the singles national champion being decided on Saturday. The doubles championship includes 32 teams and will be five rounds. All matches will be best-of-three sets. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
Stice will be making his third consecutive appearance in the individual championship and is scheduled to face Michigan State's Ozan Baris at 3:30 p.m. CT in the opening round of 64. Stice, who is ranked 31st in singles by the ITA, posted a 17-14 overall singles record this season and went 14-10 in dual matches at the top of the Tigers' singles lineup.
The Auburn senior 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.
Finn Murgett will also be in the singles championship field and will face Gavin Young of Michigan at 3:30 p.m. CT in Monday's first round. This will be the 2024 All-SEC selection's first time participating in the NCAA Singles Championship.
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. The Auburn senior, who is ranked 63rd in singles, has defeated three ranked singles opponents this season and was given SEC Player of the Week honors on April 15.
In doubles, Murgett and Dobai will be making their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship on Tuesday. The Auburn duo's opening round match will be against Theo Winegar and Michael Zhengat of Columbia a time that is still to be determined.
"With Raul [Dobai] and Finn [Murgett], the sky is the limit for that team," continued Reynolds. "When they're clicking on all cylinders, they're one of the toughest teams in the country. We're fine tuning some things on the practice court with service games, but I'm excited to travel out there with these guys for their last hoorah."
Murgett and Dobai have posted a 10-10 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 as 21st in the nation in the ITA doubles rankings released on May 2.
Auburn players to begin NCAA Men’s Singles & Doubles Championships
