The No. 8-seeded Tigers were outdueled 4-2 by the No. 9-seeded Gators, falling in their opening game of this year’s conference tournament in College Station, Texas.
Opening doubles play under an evening sky at Mitchell Tennis Center’s outdoor courts, Florida’s Adhithya Ganesan and Pablo Perez Ramos put the Gators ahead right away with a dominant 6-1 win over Nicholas Heng and Alan Bojarski.
On the top doubles court, Auburn’s Billy and Freddy Blaydes faced Florida’s Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn in a heavyweight matchup between the respective No. 16 and No. 9-ranked duos in the country. The Tigers’ tandem emerged victorious with a hard-fought 6-4 decision to put the doubles point in the hands of the No. 3 matchup.
Jake Kennedy and Hamza Nasridinov squared off against Florida’s Lorenzo Claverie and Kevin Edengren in the point-deciding match, shutting down a late comeback attempt from the Gators duo to edge out a 7-5 victory and put the Tigers up 1-0 early.
Auburn struggled to carry its momentum into singles play, giving up four of the first six sets. Bojarski and Freddy Blaydes took first-set leads with respective 6-3 and 6-4 victories, but the Tigers had a tough hill to climb as the remaining courts quickly tilted in the Gators’ favor.
Florida claimed its first point of the match off the back of Edengren, who made quick work of Manel Lazaro in a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Billy Blaydes forced a second-set tiebreaker against Claverie to keep himself alive, but the Venezuelan emerged with a 7-6 win to give the Gators their first lead of the match. Ramos recovered from his early deficit to Bojarski shortly afterward, pushing Florida’s lead to 3-1.
With the Gators within reach of the match-deciding point, Auburn pushed hard through the remaining second sets as it began to show signs of life. Wins from Nasridinov and Heng drove their respective matchups to a third set, and Freddy Blaydes’ duel also went the distance.
Heng, the SEC’s newly named Scholar-Athlete of the Year, earned Auburn’s first and only singles point of the night, coming back from an adverse opening set to earn the 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Florida’s Jeremy Jin.
With Auburn trailing 3-2, Freddy Blaydes overcame an early 2-0 deficit in the third set to force a tiebreaker against Florida’s Jefferson, but his efforts fell short in a 7-2 defeat that clinched the Gators’ victory.
Nasridinov’s third set against Ganesan was left unfinished after the Gators’ victory was sealed. He trailed 4-3 at the time of the match’s conclusion.
The Gators, eyeing what would be their seventh SEC Tournament championship, will move on to face No. 1-seeded Texas on Friday evening for a berth in Saturday’s semifinal round. The winner of that contest will face either No. 4-seeded Oklahoma or No. 5-seeded Texas A&M for a spot in Sunday’s championship game.
Concluding its season with a 16-10 record, Auburn will look ahead to the NCAA men’s tennis selection show on Monday, April 27, where it awaits its placement in May’s 64-team postseason tournament.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
