The Auburn men’s tennis team closes out its fall season this weekend with the 2008 Auburn Fall Classic.

The event begins today and runs through Sunday.

“We are excited to finish up the fall here at home,” head coach Eric Shore said. “We have not had an event in a couple of weeks, so we are ready to play after practicing so long.”

This year’s four-team field will include Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina, as well as in-state teams Troy and Samford.

The three-day, round-robin tournament gives each team the chance to match-up with each other in singles and doubles play. All results will be recorded on an individual basis and will not count towards the team’s standings.

Auburn is the only team in the field to show up in the top 50 of the final team standing after the 2008 season, coming in at No. 31.

The 2009 fall season has continued the success Auburn saw last spring in its run to the NCAA Tournament. Auburn has reached a singles or doubles final in three of the seven tournaments it has entered this season, and has won two consolation titles as a team.

Senior Alexey Tsyrenov and sophomore Tim Puetz have a near perfect doubles record at 9-2 in only two tournaments.

Another strong fall duo has been the team of senior Lukas Marsoun, who is 8-4 in singles play, and newcomer Alex Stamchev (9-3). The pair has teamed up for six doubles wins and
only two losses as well as two second place finishes.

“Stamchev has had a good fall, I have been pleasantly surprised by him,” Shore said.  “Tsyrenov and Puetz worked really well together in doubles as well.”

All matches will be played on the indoor courts, starting with doubles and moving straight into singles. The tournament begins at 10 a.m. today with Troy taking on South Carolina, followed by Auburn vs. Samford at 2:30 p.m.

Play on Saturday begins at 9:30 a.m. with Samford taking on Troy. AU will follow at 2 p.m. against the Gamecocks. The teams will wrap up play on Sunday, beginning with USC and Samford at 9 a.m., and Auburn vs. Troy at 1:30 p.m.

All matches are open to the public with free admission.