AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's tennis team looks to get back on the winning track when the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa for an SEC match at 5 p.m. CT Friday.
It will be the only match of the week for the 47th-ranked Tigers (13-8, 0-6), finishing off a three-match road swing in SEC play before playing four of their final six matches at home.
"It's going to be a grueling match," Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer said. "Playing at Alabama for us is always very challenging. I believe this is going to be a dogfight. Even though we have a win over them, they have some wins in the SEC that we don't. They're a very tough team to play. We're going to have to use this week to be very resilient, very tactful, and gain strength in adversity to turn this around."
The Tigers have faced Alabama once this season already. Auburn earned a thrilling 4-3 win on Feb. 23 at the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery. In that match, Madeline Meredith, Taylor Russo and Alannah Griffin picked up singles victories to secure the win with Griffin earning the clinching point with a three-set, come-from-behind victory at the No. 5 spot.
"You kind of have to erase the match we played earlier and go in with a fresh start," Spencer said. "It's going to take a lot of resiliency for us to get this win. We've got the people to do it, we've just got to all get on the same page and go out there and do it."
Griffin and freshman Yu Chen have been among the Tigers' most consistent performers in league play so far. Griffin, who entered the national rankings this week at No. 113, has a 2-1 singles record in league play and was leading or tied in her three unfinished matches. Chen has three victories in singles play and teamed with Daniel last week to earn a pair of doubles victories.
Alabama (13-7, 2-4) went 1-1 last weekend, falling to Ole Miss and defeating Mississippi State. Auburn has won four of the last five meetings with Alabama but seeks its first win in Tuscaloosa since 2007.
Links to live video and live scoring are available on the schedule page at AuburnTigers.com.
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