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April 5, 2012

@MensTennisAU on Twitter | Auburn Men's Tennis on Facebook

Auburn will face Tennessee at 5 p.m. Friday, and the match with Georgia is set for a 1 p.m. start Sunday. Admission to both matches is free.

Friday's match with Tennessee will be Auburn's only home night match of the season, and head coach Eric Shore wants the biggest crowd of the year at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. With both teams ranked in the nation's top 20, the winning team would likely have an inside track to earn a national seed and be able to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

"Friday is a huge match for us," Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. "We need a gigantic crowd. We haven't lost at home all year, and it would be a huge lift for us to have a big, supportive crowd. Tennessee has been a powerhouse over the last three or four years. But they're in a rebuild; they have five freshmen on their team this year."

The Tennessee match will feature a rally towel giveaway while supplies last, and fans will have a chance to enter a trivia contest to win an Xbox Kinect package. Sunday is Auburn Faculty/Staff Day, and all AU faculty and staff that show their ID at the promotions table will be entered into a drawing for a gift card from AUFanShop.com. Free pizza and t-shirts will be available at both matches.

Live scoring for both matches will be available through AuburnTigers.com, and fans can follow @MensTennisAU on Twitter for updates.

SENIOR DAY FOR STAMCHEV
Sunday's match will also be the final home match for Auburn senior Alex Stamchev. A native of Pleven, Bulgaria, Stamchev has helped rewrite the record books in his four years at Auburn. Heading into this weekend's play, Stamchev owns the Auburn record for career doubles victories (103) and is second all-time in career singles wins (102). With 205 combined wins, he is two victories shy of the all-time Auburn combined wins record of 207, held by Marcel van der Merwe, who played from 1983-87.

An All-American in 2010, Stamchev has been ranked as high as No. 6 in the country in doubles and as high as No. 45 in singles in his career. He paired with Tim Puetz to earn a bid to the NCAA doubles tournament in 2010; the duo finished the season ranked No. 9 in the country. This season, Stamchev has compiled a 23-7 overall singles record, including a 16-4 mark at the No. 2 spot in dual play. In doubles, he is 20-7 overall, including a 9-3 mark when paired with junior Andreas Mies.

ABOUT THE TIGERS
Auburn (15-6, 4-4 SEC) is one win shy of matching its total from the entire 2011 dual match season with three regular-season matches left. Earlier this season, head coach Eric Shore earned his 300th career victory with a 7-0 defeat of Central Florida on March 16.

Stamchev has led the way from the No. 2 singles position where he has racked up a 23-7 record. Combined with his 20-7 mark in doubles, he has 43 wins this season. He and junior Andreas Mies have been one of the most formidable doubles teams in the country, amassing a 9-3 overall record, including a 3-2 mark in SEC play. In singles, Mies is 22-9 with a 10-6 mark in dual play at the No. 1 spot.

The bottom of the lineup has come up in a big way for Auburn this year as Lukas Ollert (14-6), Lucas Lopasso (13-4 dual), and Michael Wardell (5-3 dual) have made a huge impact at the Nos. 4-6 positions. Daniel Cochrane has turned in strong play of late, clinching the Tigers' win over Vanderbilt, and Dennis Lengsfeld is near 100% after spending the last month recovering from injury.

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS
No. 19 Tennessee enters today's match at 12-10 overall, 4-4 in SEC play. The Vols and Tigers have played the same SEC teams so far with identical results - wins over Arkansas, LSU, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Last time out, UT dropped a 7-0 decision at home to ninth-ranked Kentucky.

Tennessee is led by freshman Mikelis Libietis, 42nd in the ITA rankings, with a 10-9 record at the No. 1 sinlges spot. Jarryd Chaplin and Edward Jones have provided big help in SEC play at the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. In doubles, Libietis and Hunter Reese combine to form the No. 8 team in the country with a 14-5 mark at the top doubles spot.

Tennessee owns a 32-15 advantage in the all-time series with Auburn that dates back to 1964. The Vols have won the last five meetings in the series; Auburn's last win over UT came in 2006.

LAST MEETING: VOLS 5, TIGERS 2 (3/6/11)
The 21st-ranked Tigers dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 2 Tennessee at the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Auburn dropped the doubles point but got a win from Lucas Lopasso and Rafael Rondino at the No. 3 spot. In singles, Auburn got wins from Daniel Cochrane at No. 4 and Andreas Mies at No. 5.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
No. 4 Georgia enters the weekend at 17-2 overall, 7-1 in SEC play. The Bulldogs face Alabama on Friday before heading to Auburn for Sunday's match. Last week, Georgia lost its first SEC match of the year to Kentucky but remains second in the SEC East.

Senior Wil Spencer, ranked No. 8 in the country, leads the Bulldogs with a 26-9 overall record, including a 7-6 mark at the No. 1 singles spot. KU Singh has provided 15 wins in dual play at the No. 2 and 3 spots, while Nathan Pasha has been a force at the bottom of the lineup, compiling a 15-1 record in dual play. Sadio Doumbia is ranked No. 24 in singles, while Singh and Ignacio Taboada are 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Hernus Pieters comes in at No. 62. In doubles, Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux are ranked 14th, Doumbia and Taborda come in at No. 23, Pieters and Taboada are 34th, Pasha and Doumbia are 59th, and Doumbia and Pieters come in at 68th.

Georgia owns a commanding 48-4 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1950, the first season of Auburn tennis. The Bulldogs have won nine of the last 10 meetings, but Auburn prevailed in the 2010 SEC Tournament quarterfinals for their last win in the series.

LAST MEETING: BULLDOGS 4, TIGERS 0 (5/14/11)
Auburn's 2011 season came to a close with a 4-0 loss to No. 6 Georgia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Athens, Ga. The Tigers dropped two of three doubles matches and fell in straight sets at the bottom three singles spots.

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