No. 19 Auburn claimed two victories at home this weekend, including a 4-0 defeat of rival Alabama that marked the squad’s third conference win of the season.
“In most of the matches from here on out, we’re not an underdog,” said Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds before Saturday’s contest. “That’s a great thing because we’re playing great tennis and we’ve got a great club, but we have to make sure that we don’t try to protect. If you try to protect, we’re not going to play our best tennis, so we’re going out there playing with excitement, playing with trust and allowing the unforced errors to be wiped off our backs. It’s important for us to figure out how to be successful individually in these matches throughout the course of the weekend.”
The Tigers found that individual success early against Charlotte on Saturday, winning the doubles point off the backs of 6-3 and 6-4 victories from Billy and Freddy Blaydes and Nicholas Heng and Joey Phillips despite some early stoppages in the midst of inclement weather, which later forced the tail end of singles play indoors to Yarbrough Tennis Center’s sheltered facilities.
“We have to be ready for things like weather, and I think that’s about mental and emotional resilience, readiness and maturity,” Reynolds said. “I actually think we did a pretty good job handling the delays through the doubles and coming back out early in singles, especially indoors. We have to be a little bit more resilient in our point construction and be ready for a fight every single time we step outside.”
Despite the interruptions, Auburn hardly missed a step through the bulk of singles play. Manel Lazaro’s first-set bagel set up a deciding 6-3 blow against Moritz Muenster, and Freddy Blaydes and Nicholas Heng defeated their respective adversaries with identical 6-1, 6-2 victories, stretching the Tigers’ lead to 4-0 and clinching the team victory. Vasco Prata earned Charlotte’s first and only point of the game, upsetting Hamza Nasridinov in a tiebreaking third set before Billy Blaydes and Thomas Kennedy emerged in three-set contests of their own—the former rallying back from a 6-0 defeat in the first to take the point with two decisive 6-2, 6-1 victories. Tigers win, 6-1.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after a devastating loss to Alabama in men’s basketball, Auburn took on the Crimson Tide with the opportunity to take some consolation in a different offshoot of the rivalry. Beginning in doubles play, which was quickly moved indoors due to rain, the two sides traded blows with Alabama’s Vit Kalina and Andrii Zimnokh creating an early lead, defeating the Blaydes brothers 6-4 before Kennedy and Nasridinov pulled out a tight 7-6 tiebreak win. That put the point in the hands of the No. 2 matchup between Auburn’s Heng and Phillips and Alabama’s Jacob Olar and Matic Kriznik, which also went to a tiebreak and saw the home side prevail 7-4.
“I think that doubles point was huge,” said Reynolds after the match. “I think we came out a little slow on court one, but it was nice to turn around and see No. 2 and No. 3 playing with that aggression. Especially indoors, you have to try to get downhill and play aggressive doubles. It was huge for us to get the doubles point and settle in.”
Auburn didn’t miss a step entering singles play, winning the first set in all six matchups. Lazaro’s 6-0, 6-3 win got the scoring started, and Heng and Freddy Blaydes completed the 4-0 sweep for the Tigers in their deciding second sets, the former to a score of 6-3, 6-0 and the latter a score of 6-1, 7-6.
“From a momentum standpoint, getting those singles tiebreakers really put us over the edge and gave us six first sets,” said Reynolds. “We keep harping that in big moments, you have to make sure you’re constructing the point how you want it to play out and then be okay with the execution if it’s not there for that point.”
“This one for me means a lot, being the only guy on either team from the state of Alabama, and it’s one I’ve always wanted to win,” Heng said postgame. “To be able to come out and get a 6-3, 6-0 win, clinch the doubles point, to do it in my senior year at home and to beat Alabama twice this year has meant a lot to me.”
The Tigers will take an improved 13-2 record with them on the road for the first of two weekends away from the Plains, facing No. 11 Vanderbilt and Kentucky as they get into the bulk of conference play.
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