AUBURN, Ala. – No. 14 Auburn men’s tennis will travel for two conference matchups over the weekend against No. 17 Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Tigers will face Oklahoma on Friday at 5 p.m. CT at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, then battle Arkansas on Sunday at noon CT at the Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville.
“We know that going to Oklahoma, it could be cold, hot or windy, so we have to be ready for anything,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “That OU team has had some ups and downs just in the last week, as they beat Texas on the road, who won ITA National Indoors. You just look across the SEC right now, and this year in particular, it looks like every match is going to be 4-3 with all these teams. That margin and what we need to be ready for is even greater.”
Auburn moved up to No. 14 in the latest ITA national team rankings released Tuesday, which is the highest mark since Feb. 28, 2023. The team is also ranked 15th in the most recent UTR College Team Rankings released Wednesday. The Tigers came back to upset 13th-ranked Vanderbilt on the road, 5-2, with five unanswered points in Nashville on Friday, then dropped their match at Kentucky on Sunday, 5-2. Auburn enters the weekend with a 14-3 overall record and a 4-2 SEC mark, which places the team fourth in the SEC regular-season standings.
Auburn redshirt junior Nicholas Heng led Auburn’s comeback victory over No. 13 Vanderbilt by providing the Tigers’ first singles win in the contest and also picked up a straight-set singles win in Auburn’s match at Kentucky. Heng is 15-7 in singles overall this season and 11-3 in dual matches.
Oklahoma will enter Friday’s match with an 11-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in conference play. The Sooners snapped a two-match skid with losses to Kentucky and No. 6 LSU by earning a road upset over third-ranked Texas, 4-1, on Sunday. Luis Carlos Alvarez has been impressive for the Sooners in singles at the top of the lineup, holding a 10-2 dual match record and a 5-1 mark against SEC opponents this season.
Auburn won the first meeting in the all-time series against Oklahoma at home last season, defeating the then-No. 18 Sooners 4-3 on a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6) victory at the No. 1 singles position by senior Will Nolan.
“Fayetteville is another tough place to play,” Reynolds continued. “If you play indoors, the court is laid on the old track, so it’s a different surface and has dark surroundings. Hopefully we will be outside and the weather looks nice right now, but we have to be ready for everything and anything that gets thrown at us.”
Arkansas currently holds a 14-7 overall record this season and a 2-5 mark in SEC play. The Razorbacks dropped each of their first four conference matches before defeating Kentucky 4-3 at home and Tennessee 4-3 on the road earlier this month. The team will host No. 7 LSU on Friday before facing Auburn on Sunday.
Auburn leads the all-time series against Arkansas, 28-17, and won the 2025 matchup 4-2 on Senior Day at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Live video and live scoring of Friday’s match will be available at SoonerSports.com, while coverage of Sunday’s match will be available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Auburn in the rankings (ITA)
Singles:
40 – Hamza Nasridinov
76 – Billy Blaydes
Doubles: