The No. 24 Tigers took two wins on Sunday to improve to 8-0 on the season. Auburn defeated Tulane 6-1 in the morning, and swept Alabama State 4-0 in the afternoon.
Tulane
The Tigers are 18-2 in their doubles matches, and were able to make quick work of the Green Wave. On the top court, Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett blanked their opponents. Jan Galka and Tyler Stice followed up quickly with a 6-3 win of their own, securing the opening point.
"We're clicking on all cylinders in doubles," said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds. "I've challenged the guys to go the whole season without losing in doubles, because I have that much confidence in our doubles pairs and in our doubles play as a whole.
No. 84 Galka furthered his success on court two, opening the scoring for the match with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Billy Suarez. Meanwhile, on the third court, Maclean followed up a slow start to rally to a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
The victory was sealed on court five, as Murgett quickly downed his opponent 6-1, 6-3.
As the rest of the matches were played to completion, the Green Wave was able to notch a single point at the end of the match, as Auburn’s Raul Dobai fell to Fynn Kuenkler on court four. Tyler Stice and Will Nolan were able to secure two-set victories on the top and bottom courts respectively.
Alabama State
Just like the Tulane match, the Tigers had very little trouble taking the doubles point over the Hornets, with the Murgett/Maclean duo sealing it on court one.
Galka doubled his win total on the day on court two, this time in one fewer game, 6-1, 6-1. The Warsaw native is now 5-2 on the season.
Jackson Ross finished shortly after on the bottom court, taking ASU’s Niila Magga down by a 6-3, 6-1 score. So far this season, the Tigers are yet to lose on the sixth court.
Junior Spencer Gray finished the match off with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Matis Amier on the fifth court. All the other matches were halted and Auburn walked away with a 4-0 win and an 8-0 record on the season.
“We did a good job of coming out strong in first sets, and we were better emotionally when things did not go well,” Reynolds said. “We let that frustration go and kept playing. In the end, we found ad way and that's going to pay off for us."
Auburn’s next matchup will take them to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to take on MTSU. Those matches will start at 5 p.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 18.
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Dylan Fox, Junior in Civil Site Design Engineering, joined The Plainsman as a sports writer in Spring 2020. From Geneva, IL.
