Auburn, Ala (EETV) The Cinderella story of Auburn’s Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett came to an end on Friday in Orlando, Fla. as the doubles pair found themselves on the wrong side of a three-set tiebreak loss in the NCAA doubles finals.
After entering the tournament ranked the No. 26 doubles tandem in the country, Maclean and Murgett worked their way to the finals loss to Tennessee's Adam Walton and Pat Harper, suffering defeat by a 7-6 (5), 2-6, 13-11 score.
Despite falling short in the final match, Auburn head coach Bobby Renolds was proud of his athletes and of his entire team for their performance throughout the NCAA tournament.
"This was just an amazing run for Auburn. These guys poured their hearts out on the court today and I couldn't be more proud of them," Reynolds said. "I hurt for them and not being successful in the end, but they will grow tremendously from this opportunity.”
Reynolds is excited and optimistic for the future of the pair.
"Finn and Tad always conduct themselves in a professional manner on and off the court and it's an honor to mentor these guys,” Reynolds said. “I'm excited for their opportunities this summer with professional tournaments and returning another year for another deep run in the tournament."
Maclean echoed his coach’s words of praise for the program and spoke about the challenge presented by the Vols.
"It was such a tough match today, I don't think you could write it," Maclean said. "We left it all out there and I couldn't be prouder of us. Working with our coaches Bobby Reynolds and Chris Hooshyar, we've put in hard work off the court with those guys and our teammates and I think we set ourselves up to be in this position with our mentality -- thanks to our coaches for that. We've done unbelievably well this week.”
The Tigers will now enter the collegiate offseason in which athletes such as Maclean and Murgett will participate in several professional tournaments before returning to campus for fall competition.
