The men's tennis team participates in two tournaments this weekend.
The Georgia Tech Fall Classic will take place in Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 2 to Oct. 4.
The D'Novo Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., also begins Oct. 2 and will last through Oct. 10.
Associate head coach Gabor Pelva said he is optimistic for the team's future tournaments.
"I expect us to play better and better," Pelva said.
Participants in the ITA tournament will include players from member schools across the ITA, including rival SEC schools Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Senior Tim Puetz was selected to play in main draw singles for the ITA tournament and will join junior Alex Stamchev for doubles. Stamchev also qualified for singles play in the tournament.
Last weekend, both competed in the HEB Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas, along with several teammates.
The tournament took place Friday through Sunday and resulted in several successes for Auburn.
Stamchev secured a win for Auburn the first day. While Puetz won two matches the first day, he was forced to withdraw after the second win because of an injury.
The two played a successful doubles match against Slah Mbarek and Daniel Sanchez of TCU on the second day, securing a 9-8 (5) win.
Sophomore Lucas Lopasso advanced to the finals in singles on the last day.
However, because of a scheduling conflict, he was unable to continue the competition in singles, focusing instead on doubles play with partner Tim Hewitt, sophomore.
According to Hewitt, the doubles tournament was the highlight of the weekend.
"I played doubles because I improved over the summer," Hewitt said. "I'm quite excited to be playing doubles this year."
Hewitt and Lopasso won the tournament title in doubles play after defeating TCU's Soren Goritzka and Cameron Nashwent in their last game.
The pairs played to an 8-8 tie, but the Tigers managed to pull a 9-8 win in the tiebreaker.
"They were down in the break, but they kept fighting and believed they could win the match, and they came back 9-8," Pelva said.
Hewitt said he was happy with the results of the tournament.
"I'm really proud," Hewitt said. "I'm happy with myself. I think Lucas was exceptional this weekend. I was really happy with how he played."
Pelva said his ultimate goal is to win the SEC this year.
"First of all, the fall season we play only tournaments, and our goal is to win as many matches as we can that will help us in the preseason rankings next year," Pelva said. "We hope we'll be able to play at least four or five tournaments and do the best we can."
Lopasso said the goal of the whole team is to improve for the next season.
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