No. 23 men’s tennis upsets No. 7 LSU at home

Box Score
No. 23 men’s tennis upsets No. 7 LSU at homeNo. 23 men’s tennis upsets No. 7 LSU at home

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 23 Auburn men’s tennis seventh-ranked No. 7 LSU 5-2 on Friday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn. The win marks the Tigers’ highest-ranked victory since defeating No. 4 South Carolina on March 24, 2023.

“I felt this was a great response from last weekend,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “Our guys showed up from start to finish. We played some great doubles on courts one and three to get off the court quickly and kept the momentum in singles. To beat a team that is No. 7 in the country and to do it in that fashion speaks to the level that our guys are capable of playing. I’m excited about that response and looking to take that into Sunday’s match against South Carolina.”

Auburn set the tone during the doubles point at the top of the lineup, where Billy and Freddy Blaydes earned a 6-2 win over Sasa Markovic and Andrej Loncarevic. At the No. 3 position, Auburn’s Hamza Nasridinov and Jake Kennedy won each of the first four games against LSU’s Rudy Ceccon and Olaf Pieczkowski and went on to win 6-2 to clinch the doubles point.

Auburn then carried that momentum into singles, winning four first sets.

At the No. 5 singles position, Auburn freshman Alan Bojarski earned an early break on a deciding point to take a 3-1 lead over LSU’s Sasa Markovic. He later broke in the final game to take the set 6-2. Bojarski dominated the second set with a bagel to win 6-2, 6-0 and give Auburn a 2-0 lead. LSU responded with a straight-set win at the No. 6 position to cut the lead to 2-1.

Auburn’s Billy Blaydes and LSU’s Erik Arutiunian each held serve late into the first set. With a 5-4 lead, Blaydes earned a crucial break to take the set 6-4. The second set was tied at three before the Auburn senior won three straight games to secure a 6-4, 6-3 victory and extend Auburn’s lead to 3-1. The win improved Blaydes’ record to 17-12 overall and 9-7 in dual matches.

An early break helped Nasridinov build a 3-1 lead in the first set against Olaf Pieczkowski on the top singles court. The Auburn sophomore later earned another break on a deciding point to go up 5-2 and closed out the set 6-2. Nasridinov then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and went on to win 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the team victory. With the win, Nasridinov improved his overall singles record to 23-7 this season and 9-5 in dual matches.

After the match was decided, Auburn’s Freddy Blaydes defeated LSU’s Alessio Vasquez 6-3, 6-7 (6), 1-0 (10-8) in a match tiebreak to make the final score 5-2.

The victory improves Auburn’s record to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in conference play. The win marks Auburn’s fourth victory over a top-25 opponent this season and the second-highest-ranked win of the Bobby Reynolds era.

Up next, Auburn will host No. 16 South Carolina on Sunday at noon CT. An Auburn tennis bundle will be raffled off during the match, including a lawn chair, bag, bucket hat and blanket.

Live video and live scoring will be available at AuburnTigers.com. Admission to all matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center is free, and additional fan information is available at AuburnTigers.com/MatchDay.

 

#23 Auburn 5, #7 LSU 2

Singles Results:

  1. #40 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) def. #29 Olaf Pieczkowski (LSU) 6-2, 6-2
  2. #76 Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. #24 Erik Arutiunian (LSU) 6-4, 6-3
  3. Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-4, 6-2
  4. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. Alessio Vasquez (LSU) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-8)
  5. Alan Bojarski (AUB) def. Sasa Markovic (LSU) 6-2, 6-0
  6. Matias Ponce De Leon (LSU) def. Manel Lazaro (AUB) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles Results:

  1. #63 Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. Sasa Markovic/Andrej Loncarevic (LSU) 6-2
  2. Nicholas Heng/Alan Bojarski (AUB) vs. #42 Matias Ponce De Leon/Erik Arutiunian (LSU) 4-5, unfinished
  3. Hamza Nasridinov/Jake Kennedy (AUB) def. Rudy Ceccon/Olaf Pieczkowski (LSU) 6-2

 

Time of match: 2:36 Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 5,6,2,3,1,4 Official: Donna Jerome