Tennis

Auburn men’s team gets victory over Arkansas

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Auburn University men’s tennis team defeated Arkansas in their final regular season home game of the 2023 season by a final score of 4-0 on Friday afternoon.

The game win also happened on Senior Day as seniors Jan Galka and Spencer Gray were honored before the game.

Auburn will travel to upstate to battle rival No. 56 Alabama. The game will start at 13.00. CT at the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium. Live video and live score from the match will be available online at RollTide.com.

Auburn will host the 2023 SEC Men’s Tennis Championship Tournament April 19-23 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. Ticket books for all tournaments are now on sale at aubtix.com. Day tickets can be purchased on site.

The game began with a dominant double point win by the Tigers. Alejandro Moreno and Tyler Stice earned a 6-2 win over Jake Sweeney and Foster Rogers. Moments later, Jan Galka and Billy Blaydes defeated Stefanos Savva and Alan Sau Franco 6-3 for their 12th doubles win. Galka and Blaydes’ win made it worth the double point for the Tigers.

Auburn got off to a slow start in singles, winning only the first set on courts three and five. Auburn went on to win on both courts in straight sets, with Finn Murgett dominating Sau Franco 6-3, 6-0 on court three, while Raul Dobai fended off a second-set comeback by Gerard Ripoll to win on court five.

With the team score 3-0, the Tigers needed a three-set victory from any of the remaining courts to claim a team victory. Moreno came back after trailing 5-3 in his second set to force a third set on court two, while Stice and Blaydes also forced third sets in their matches. Ultimately, Stice was the one to break through with the decision victory on court one, defeating Stefanos Savva for his 11th doubles singles win from the top of the Tigers lineup.

Auburn’s third straight win improves its overall record to 17-7 and conference record to 5-4. The Razorbacks fall to 12-11 for the season and remain winless in conference play at 0-10.

Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said after the win: “I told these guys in the locker room before we went out that we were going to face a team that was 0-9 on paper in the league, but every game they worked really hard out there. We knew that they were going to give us their best stuff, and they did. I think that game was a lot closer than the 4-0 score shows, but it’s the test we needed. I wanted to see the boys respond and I couldn’t be happier for Alejandro [Moreno] fighting back and getting to the third set and for Billy [Blaydes] fighting back in the second set. Tyler was able to come back and get the win for us. It was good for us, that’s what we needed right now.”

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