AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn is set to begin its Southeastern Conference schedule over the weekend, facing Florida on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT and South Carolina on Monday at noon CT. Auburn will enter Friday’s conference opener with a 7-2 overall record and on a five-match winning streak.
“We have to be ready to deal with the nerves of starting SEC play with a lot of new faces in our program and I think that’s going to define us one way or the other this weekend,” said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. “If we can look at it as just another two matches and play the type of tennis that we know how to play, then we will have success. If we allow other factors to come in whether it be the emotions of an SEC match, the brands, being on the road or another factor that is out of our control then it will be a difficult weekend. That’s on us as coaches to make sure that they are ready and understand the importance of controlling the controlables.”
This will be second consecutive weekend that the Tigers are playing in the state of Florida, as they swept FGCU in a doubleheader on Fort Myers on Sunday. In the doubleheader, Auburn claimed the matches by scores of 4-1 and 5-0, respectively. Billy Blaydes, Hamza Nasridinov, Nicholas Heng and Mats Bredschneijder each earned a couple of straight set wins on Sunday. Bredschneijder earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-0 singles victories at the No. 5 position during the doubleheader.
In the latest ITA national team rankings that were released on Thursday, Auburn was featured at No. 35. Individually, Alex Frusina was ranked No. 112 and Will Nolan was No. 124 in the singles rankings while Nolan and Blaydes were tabbed No. 9 in doubles. Frusina is undefeated in singles dual matches at 6-0 with an overall record of 11-3 this season. Heng is also undefeated in singles this spring at 5-0.
Florida, No. 49 in the ITA national team rankings, will enter Saturday’s match with a 5-4 overall record and a 3-0 record at home. The Gators had a tough road trip to start the month with losses against SMU and No. 1 TCU but bounced back with a home win over North Florida on Saturday. Auburn is 16-45 all-time against the Gators and won the last meeting by a 4-1 score at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Tigers will return to the Carolina Tennis Center for the first time since knocking off then-No. 4 South Carolina 4-3 in 2023 on Monday. The Gamecocks currently hold a 6-3 overall record and will face Alabama on Saturday before playing the Tigers. South Carolina held a national ranking of No. 17 on Feb. 5 but fell out of the rankings after being shut out by Clemson 7-0 on Feb. 7.
Veteran senior Casey Hoole regularly plays at the top of the South Carolina singles lineup and is 5-3 in dual matches this season. The Tigers lead the all-time series over the Gamecocks 24-20 and have won each of their last three meetings.
Live video and live scoring of Friday’s match against Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex will be available online at FloridaGators.com. Live video and live scoring of Monday’s match will be available online at GamecocksOnline.com.