Jan. 25, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. -- No. 13 Auburn women's tennis is set to play host to No. 17 Miami (Fla.), Tulane and UC Santa Barbara Saturday and Sunday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The Tigers (3-0) will face Tulane (2-0) Saturday at 11 a.m. CT with the victor taking on the winner of the Miami vs. UC Santa Barbara match (Friday, 3:00 p.m.) in the championship slated for a 1:00 p.m. CT start on Sunday. A consolation match will be played Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
"I think that Tulane is an up and coming team that brings a lot of energy and lot of intensity to their matches," Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer said. "I think this is going to be a great test for our team because it is a very strong Kickoff region with the three teams coming in. It is one of the strongest Kickoff pods, so our team has to be ready. We won't have one easy match this weekend. Our team needs to be ready mentally and physically to meet every challenge regardless of the opponent."
Auburn is coming off a 3-0 opening weekend that saw 4-0 wins vs. Oklahoma, ULM and Georgia State. No. 53 Jaeda Daniel, Alizee Michaud and Caroline Turner each picked up a pair of singles wins over two days of play.
Doubles play was equally as impressive as Taylor Russo and Madeline Meredith paired up for a two 6-4 wins vs. ULM and Oklahoma. Michaud and Daniel also won a pair with 6-1 decisions.
Georgie Axon and Andie Dikosavljevic had very successful returns to the court after missing the fall portion of the season. Axon teamed up with Alannah Griffin for a 6-0 win vs. Oklahoma's Nina Jabrzemski and Camila Romero. Dikosavljevic picked up wins in both singles and doubles, winning 6-3, 6-4 against ULM's Madalina Grigouriu and partnered with Griffin for a 6-2 win over Georgia State's Arina Taluyenko and Ilona Golynker.
"Our team played with a lot of confidence last weekend in our matches," Spencer said. "It was just one step towards our overall goal, which is to get to Indoor Nationals. To do that we have to work collectively with one mindset and take things match by match. We just have to play Auburn Tennis."
The Auburn ITA Kickoff Regional is one 15 played on both the men's and women's side, with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships hosted by Wisconsin.
Auburn women's tennis is proud to partner with the Auburn men's basketball team to promote AUtlive at this weekend's matches. AUtlive t-shirts can be purchased prior to Saturday's opening match vs. Tulane as well as before the men's basketball game vs. LSU.
Live stats for the ITA Kickoff will be available .