Auburn women's tennis announces 2018-19 schedule

AUBURN, Ala. – A total of 15 home matches, along with a home fall tournament, highlight the Auburn women's tennis schedule for the 2018-19 season, announced by head coach Lauren Spencer on Monday.
 
The Tigers, coming off their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, have five fall tournaments set, highlighted by the inaugural Marliss Gruver Auburn Fall Invitational, set for Oct. 26-28 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. Auburn will also play in the TCU Invitational (Sept. 21-23), the ITA Southern Regional at Ole Miss (Oct. 12-15), the Florida State Invitational (Nov. 9-11), and selected individuals could qualify for the ITA Winter Nationals (Nov. 7-11).
 
Dual match play begins Jan. 19-20 as the Tigers will play back-to-back doubleheaders at home, hosting Alabama A&M, Mercer and Central Arkansas over four matches. The ITA Kickoff Weekend in Atlanta is next with the Tigers facing Kentucky in the opening round (Jan. 26) with a second match against either host Georgia Tech or Ohio State to follow (Jan. 27).
 
Auburn will play non-conference matches at home the next three weekends against Houston and UAB (Feb. 2), Jackson State (Feb. 9), and Samford and Georgia State (Feb. 17). A trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships could also await the Tigers Feb. 8-11 in Seattle. Non-conference play wraps up at the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery Feb. 22-23.
 
SEC play at home begins March 8 & 10 with visits from Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The Tigers will also play host to Tennessee (March 29), Georgia (March 31), Missouri (April 12) and Arkansas (April 14). Auburn will play conference road matches at Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida.
 
The SEC Tournament runs April 17-21 at Texas A&M, and NCAA Tournament play begins May 3. New this season is a super regional format in NCAA play – following the first two rounds, the 16 remaining teams will play a single match at campus sites to determine the final eight teams to advance to the NCAA Championships, which begin May 16 in Orlando, Fla.
 
Auburn returns six letter-winners from its 2017-18 team that finished 20-11 overall, 8-5 in SEC play, and was No. 24 in the final ITA rankings.