AUBURN, Ala. – No. 8 Women’s tennis will have one match at home on Friday and one match on the road on Sunday in conference play. The Tigers will face No. 10 Oklahoma in a top 10 matchup at 11 a.m. CT on Friday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center before battling Arkansas at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday at the Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
“Oklahoma is a really good team and made the semifinals of National Indoors earlier this year,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “A lot of matches we play in the SEC can go either way and this one is 50-50 as well. I think that if we can compete really hard and play at the level that we’re capable of, we’ll feel really good about our chances. We’re only playing the best teams every weekend which is where we want to be and where we’re elevating ourselves to.”
Auburn is coming off a successful homestand last weekend which featured wins over No. 15 Vanderbilt and Missouri. After dropping a close doubles point on Friday, the Tigers bounced back with wins at all six singles positions against the Commodores and they shut out Missouri by a 4-0 score on Sunday.
Auburn freshman Alice Battesti earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Wednesday after posting two singles victories and a doubles victory during the weekend, including the match clinching win against the Commodores.
The Tigers will enter Friday as the winners of five consecutive matches. The team holds a 17-4 overall record and a 6-3 record in conference play this season, which places it in a tie for fifth place in the SEC standings with six conference matches remaining.
Oklahoma moved into the top 10 this week after defeating No. 21 South Carolina and losing to No. 1 Georgia. In their first season in the SEC, the Sooners hold a 12-5 overall record and a 5-4 conference record. Oklahoma has four singles ranked by the ITA, including No. 19 Julia Garica Ruiz, who DJ Bennett defeated in the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship in November by a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 score.
Auburn and Oklahoma have only met once before on Jan. 20, 2018 when the Tigers won by a 4-0 score at home.
“We play one split weekend every year and Arkansas will be a tough trip,” continued Szabo. “We’re going to have to be ready to travel even though it’ll look a little bit different but I’m looking forward to Fayetteville. The weather looks like it’s going to be really good right now, but we have to be prepared for anything in that part of the country.”
Arkansas currently holds a 4-12 record this season and a 1-8 mark in SEC play. The Razorbacks’ lone conference win came against Missouri on Mar. 9 and the team has lost four straight since that match. Auburn leads the all-time series over Arkansas 29-23.
Friday’s match will be Staff Appreciation Day at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, where Auburn Athletics staff members in attendance will receive a free sub sandwich from Publix while supplies last. Attendance to the match will be free for all fans while live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at AuburnTigers.com.
Live video and live scoring of Sunday’s match will be available online at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.