AUBURN, Ala. – No. 18 Auburn men’s tennis has a lot of travel scheduled for this weekend, playing Tennessee in Knoxville on Friday at 4 p.m. CT before returning to Auburn to face No. 5 Mississippi State and Eastern Kentucky on Sunday at noon and 5 p.m. CT.
Auburn enters the weekend with a 9-1 overall record and comign off an upset victory over No. 15 Florida in the conference opener on Saturday. The victory helped propel the Tigers into the ITA top 25 for the first time this season, coming in at No. 18. The ranking is the program’s highest since reaching No. 17 on April 11, 2023.
Auburn sophomore Hamza Nasridinov had a great day in singles on Saturday, defeating 29th ranked Henry Jefferson of Florida on the top court to clinch Auburn’s team victory over the Gators. Nasridinov holds a 19-3 overall singles record this season and is 5-1 in dual matches. Billy Blaydes has regularly played at the No. 2 singles position this season, and is 6-2 in dual matches.
Tennessee will enter Friday afternoon’s match with a 6-6 overall record and an 0-2 record in conference play. The Volunteers began their SEC schedule with back-to-back road losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The team is ranked No. 66 nationally by the ITA.
On Sunday, Auburn will face a familiar foe in No. 5 Mississippi State at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. On Jan. 24 during ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Bulldogs pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Tigers at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Center in Starkville to punch their ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. Mississippi State is 10-2 overall this season with its only losses coming to No. 1 Virginia at ITA Indoors and to No. 3 Texas at home on Monday.
Following its match against Mississippi State, the Tigers will face Eastern Kentucky on Sunday. Eastern Kentucky is currently 8-9 this season and coming off two straight wins over Furman and Chattanooga.
Live video and live scoring of Friday’s match in Knoxville will be available at UTSports.com, while live video and live scoring of both matches on Sunday will be available at AuburnTigers.com. Fans in attendance at the Auburn and Mississippi State match will receive free Auburn men’s tennis buttons while supplies last. More fan information is available at AuburnTigers.com/MatchDay.
Auburn in the Rankings (ITA)
Singles:
56 – Hamza Nasridinov
86 – Billy Blaydes
84 – Manel Lazaro
Doubles:
20- Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes