TIGERS TAKE DOWN TIDE: Inside Auburn's shutout rivalry win over Alabama
Under the pressure of the rivalry, Auburn rose to the moment, going into six intense tiebreakers and winning all six of them. Here's how the Tigers came away with a dominant win over the Tide.
Nicholas Heng has had this one circled.
The rivalry sometimes means different things to different people — and in SEC tennis, where a huge percentage of players come from overseas, a lot of players are just figuring out the rivalries when they get to campus or as they experience them.
Not Heng: Auburn’s fourth-year player who grew up in Madison, with the Iron Bowl on the family TV every fall, knows exactly what this rivalry means to him — and he’s known it all his life.
“This one for me means a lot, I would say, being the only guy from Alabama on either team,” Heng explained Sunday, standing courtside after Auburn’s 4-0 win over Alabama. “And historically in the past I’ve not done great against Alabama, and for me it’s always one I’ve wanted to win.”
So he dug deep, winning along with his partner Joey Phillips the tiebreaker 7-4 that decided Sunday’s doubles point. It was one of six tiebreakers the rivals played Sunday, and the Tigers won every one. It was ultimately a rout and a shutout for Auburn on the scoreboard, but not because the Tigers weren’t challenged by Alabama: It was because Auburn rose to the moment every single time.
Auburn moved to 3-1 in the SEC with the win.
“I think the rivalry speaks for itself,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “In my pregame, I told them, ‘This is Bama. Nothing else matters. At the end of the day, it’s not about how pretty or how ugly it is. It’s trying to get over that finish line, and leaving everything out there.’“
His team got that done, starting in doubles.
The Tigers stepped on the doubles court expecting a challenge: