OXFORD, Miss. – The Auburn women's tennis team concluded a successful weekend at the ITA Southern Regional Championships on Sunday, picking up 13 singles and doubles victories during the tournament.
Auburn saw its most success in doubles play as one team advanced to the main draw semifinal and another fought through to the consolation final. The team of freshman Sophia Graver and junior Taylor Russo won their first three matches to push through to the semifinal, earning victories over opponents from Samford, Alabama and Ole Miss on Friday and Saturday, including a 8-7 (5) victory over #49 Sabina Malachova and Tea Jandric of Ole Miss. The run would end in Sunday's semifinal with a 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6) loss to the nation's No. 7 team of Eden Richardson and Jessica Golovin of LSU.
Graver, making her Auburn debut, earned a total of five wins on the weekend between singles and doubles. She won her first collegiate singles match Friday, defeating Samford's Grace Jennings, 6-4, 6-2. On Saturday, facing three match points and down 0-5 in the second set, she won seven straight games to even the match and kept rolling through the third to earn a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alabama's Alba Cortina-Pou.
After dropping a first-round match in the doubles main draw, the team of sophomore Lindsay Song and senior Caroline Turner made their way all the way through the consolation bracket to the final, earning wins over teams from UL-Lafayette, Tulane and Samford along the way. The pair would fall in Sunday's consolation final to Polina Mutel and Maria Skyba of Northwestern State, 8-2.
Sophomore Jaeda Daniel made a run to the main draw singles quarterfinals with three wins on Friday and Saturday. She picked up straight-sets wins over Ling Gu of Nicholls State, 6-3, 6-2, and Ann Selim of Alabama, 7-5, 6-4, to advance to the round of 16, then earned another victory over McNeese State's Charoline Erlandsson, 7-5, 6-2. Her run came to an end Sunday with a quarterfinal loss to Tereza Janatova of Ole Miss, 6-2, 6-3.
Russo and Turner also earned one singles win apiece, with Russo defeating Stephanie Barnett of Nicholls State, 7-5, 7-5, and Turner winning her match with UAB's Sophie Dodds, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
The Tigers will be back in action Oct. 26-28 as they play host to the Marliss Gruver Memorial Auburn Invitational at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn. A free kids' clinic will take place prior to the tournament on Thursday, Oct. 25; details will be announced in the coming days.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Auburn Women's Tennis Results
ITA Southern Regional Championships – Oxford, Miss. – Oct. 12-14, 2018
Main Draw Singles
R64 - Taylor Russo (Auburn) def. Stephanie Barnett (Nicholls), 7-5, 7-5
R64 - Sophia Graver (Auburn) def. Grace Jennings (Samford), 6-4, 6-2
R64 - #38 Eden Richardson (LSU) def. Lindsay Song (Auburn), 6-4, 6-0
R64 - #39 Jaeda Daniel (Auburn) def. Ling Gu (Nicholls), 6-3, 6-2
R64 - Caroline Turner (Auburn) def. Sophie Dodds (UAB), 5-7, 6-1, 6-0
R32 - #39 Jaeda Daniel (Auburn) def. Ann Selim (Alabama), 7-5, 6-4
R32 - Taylor Bridges (LSU) def. Taylor Russo (Auburn), 7-6 (6), 6-3
R32 - Kennan Johnson (LSU) def. Caroline Turner (Auburn), 6-3, 6-0
R32 – Sophia Graver (Auburn) def. Alba Cortina-Pou (Alabama), 1-6, 7-5, 6-3
R16 – #92 Tea Jandric (Ole Miss) def. Sophia Graver (Auburn), 6-4, 6-4
R16 - #39 Jaeda Daniel (Auburn) def. Charoline Erlandsson (McNeese), 7-5, 6-2
QF – Tereza Janatova (Ole Miss) def. #39 Jaeda Daniel (Auburn), 6-2, 6-3
Consolation Singles
R32 - Shivanni Manjanna (ULM) def. Lindsay Song (Auburn), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7)
Main Draw Doubles
R32 - Graver/Russo (Auburn) def. Pool/De Ugarte (Samford), 8-7 (6)
R32 - Daniell/Ito (Alabama) def. Song/Turner (Auburn), 8-3
R16 - Graver/Russo (Auburn) def. Cortina-Pou/Fabian (Alabama), 8-0
QF - Graver/Russo (Auburn) def. #49 Machalova/Jandric (Ole Miss), 8-7 (5)
SF - #7 Richardson/Golovin (LSU) def. Graver/Russo (Auburn), 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6)
Consolation Doubles
R16 - Song/Turner (Auburn) def. Picaut/Radovanovic (ULL), 8-2
QF - Song/Turner (Auburn) def. Fabrizi/Lavery (Tulane), 8-7 (5)
SF - Song/Turner (Auburn) def. Jennings/Lewis (Samford), 8-5
Final - Mutel/Skyba (NW State) def. Song/Turner (Auburn), 8-2
