No. 19 Auburn men's tennis split its two weekend matchups ahead of the SEC Championship on Thursday, defeating No. 25 Ole Miss 4-3 in a nail-biter on Friday before falling to No. 13 Georgia 4-0 on Sunday.
Going into the SEC Tournament, Auburn is on a rough stretch, having lost seven of its last nine conference matches after beginning SEC play with a 4-1 record. The Tigers will face a familiar opponent in Florida, which Auburn defeated 6-1 earlier this season. Auburn will look to win its first SEC championship in program history.
Auburn would open up Friday's matchup against Ole Miss, dropping two of its three doubles matches to go down 1-0. The Tigers would go into singles needing to win four of their six matches to take the meet. After Ole Miss' Vladko Jankanj took the No. 4 matchup to put the Rebels up 2-0, Auburn was in need of an incredible run. Junior Nicholas Heng would put the Tigers on the board, taking two sets from Ole Miss' Pietro Panpannin 6-1 and 6-4 in the No. 3 matchup. Billy Blaydes would knot the meet up at 2-2 after winning his No. 2 matchup in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Ole Miss would answer back as the Rebels' No. 5 Noah Schlagenhauf would take down Auburn's Freddy Blaydes in straight sets to regain the lead.
Auburn would have to win its next two matchups, at No. 1 and the No. 6, to take the meet. Freshman Manel Lazaro would come through in the clutch for the Tigers, taking his No. 6 matchup in two sets, both going 6-4. It would come down to both teams’ No. 1 players, sophomore Hamza Nasridinov for Auburn, and freshman Stefano D’Agostino for the Rebels. Nasridinov would win the first set in a 7-4 tiebreak, but D’Agostino would respond with his own 7-4 tiebreak victory, bringing it all down to the final set. Nasridinov would take the third set handily, 6-3, securing the Tigers their first conference victory in three matches.
The Tigers’ matchup versus Georgia would not be as close. The Bulldogs would win their first two doubles matches of the day, putting the team up 1-0 on the Tigers. They would continue their dominance in the singles. Gabriele Vulpitta for the Bulldogs would take the number six matchup dominantly, only losing one game. Bulldogs’ No. 4 Derrick Chen would finish his matchup soon after in two sets, 6-4 and 6-1, to put the Bulldogs just one win away from sweeping the meet. After taking the first set from Auburn’s Billy Blaydes, No.2 Will Jansen of the Bulldogs would take the second set and the match from the Tigers with a 7-3 tiebreak victory.
Auburn will now be looking to change its fortunes at the SEC Championships this Thursday in College Station, Texas, against Florida, which has bounced in and out of national rankings all season long.
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Jonathan is a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
