AUBURN - The Auburn Tigers will look to win their fourth straight men's tennis match over archrival Alabama when the Crimson Tide come to town for a 1 p.m. SEC dual match Saturday at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Admission is free to the match. The first 100 fans will receive an Auburn Tennis koozie, and fans can grab a slice of free pizza from Domino's between the doubles and singles matches while supplies last. Saturday's weather forecast calls for clear skies and highs in the mid-70s, ideal conditions for an SEC tennis match.
"Alabama has a new coach this year, and he's done a really good job with his team," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. "They've got some depth, they have some experience, and they're playing well. I feel like it's going to be a very, very tough match. I know that we'll be ready, and I know they'll be ready. It should be a really great match to come out and watch this weekend."
For fans unable to attend, live scoring will be available through AuburnTigers.com, and updates throughout the match will be posted on @MensTennisAU, the official Twitter page of Auburn Men's Tennis.
Auburn (10-4, 2-2 SEC) is coming off a road sweep of LSU and Arkansas last weekend, defeating the Tigers 5-2 and earning a 6-1 win over the Razorbacks. It was the first road weekend sweep in conference play for Auburn since the 2007 season and got the Tigers back on track after dropping both matches by identical 4-3 scores on the opening weekend of league play.
The Tigers moved up six spots to No. 31 in the national ITA team rankings and have three individuals represented in the ITA singles rankings. Senior Andreas Mies is ranked No. 46, up 61 spots from his last ranking, while sophomore Lukas Ollert and junior Daniel Cochrane moved into the rankings at Nos. 85 and 86, respectively. Mies, Ollert and Cochrane all won both of their singles matches last weekend, and Ollert has won five straight and has an 11-1 mark in dual match play this year.
In doubles, the Tigers' top duo of Mies and Cochrane enter the weekend ranked No. 3 in the nation after winning one match last weekend and leading another when doubles play was halted after the Tigers clinched the point.
Alabama (11-5, 2-2 SEC), ranked 27th in the national team rankings, is coming off their own weekend sweep of LSU and Arkansas and has posted very similar numbers to Auburn so far this season. The Tide has two players ranked in the ITA singles top 125 with senior Jarryd Botha at No. 58 and freshman Becker O'Shaugnessey at No. 79. Alabama's doubles team of Botha and sophomore David Vieyra comes in at No. 72, and O'Shaugnessey and junior Daniil Proskura are ranked 75th.
The Tide leads the all-time series 40-33, but Auburn has won the last three meetings. The Tigers took a 4-1 victory in Tuscaloosa last season as then-senior Alex Stamchev clinched the match at the No. 2 singles position to earn his 208th career win at Auburn, setting the school record for combined singles and doubles victories.
