After a close loss, the men's tennis team is ready to get back on the court.
The Tigers will play in the Blue Gray National Classic this weekend in Montgomery.
Coach Eric Shore said there are some good teams in the tournament, and he would like his team to do well.
"We'd like to be in the top," Shore said. "We've got a kind of home-court advantage with it being in Montgomery."
Among the eight teams participating in the tournament is in-state rival Alabama (5-1), which is coming off a win at Southern Methodist.
Shore said he would like for Sunday's match to teach the players skills they will need in the tournament.
"Hopefully we will be able to take what we learned today and carry it over to next weekend," Shore said.
The Tigers fell to Georgia Tech Sunday in a close match with a final score of 4-3.
The No. 15 Yellow Jackets (7-1) won the doubles matches and three of the singles matches, while the No. 22 Tigers (5-2) won three of the singles matches.
Shore said it was a tough loss, and he thought his team did a great job.
"They played well in doubles, but we came back and gave ourselves a shot in singles," Shore said. "Tim Puetz did a great job at No. 1 singles, and I give Daniel Cochrane credit for fighting back and saving his match points.
"It's just unfortunate we couldn't close the deal on other matches."
Freshman Daniel Cochrane, chosen by the SEC as Freshman of the Week, had a close battle with Georgia Tech sophomore Magin Ortega. Their match had four match points and ended in favor of the Tigers with scores of 6-7, 7-6 and 6-3.
"At the end of one of the sets I won I felt only pure joy," Cochrane said. "Managing to come back from behind--to do that was great."
Cochrane said he felt like he hit a wall during his last set.
"I was just completely, physically tired," he said. "And also I had lost a little of the spirit because we had already lost."
Senior Tim Puetz defeated the 14th-ranked player in the country, senior Guillermo Gomez, 6-4 and 6-2.
"That was definitely a good feeling," Puetz said. "Being injured for most of the fall and not getting to play for a long time, it was good to get back on track with that."
Puetz said he plans on working on little details this week before the tournament in Montgomery.
"I need to do some tweaking on my form," Puetz said. "But really, I just need to play more."
Cochrane said he needed to work on his forehand before his next match, but the rest of his game was good.
Shore said Georgia Tech had an experienced team leading to their win.
The Yellow Jackets have five seniors on their team compared to Auburn's two, Shore said.
"You're going to have games like that," Shore said. "You just have to learn from them."
Also set to play in the Blue Gray National Classic are Boise State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pepperdine, Texas Tech and Arizona.
After the team plays in the tournament, it will go on the road for two SEC matches against Georgia and Tennessee.
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