HOUSTON – Auburn sophomore Yu Chen and freshman Caraline Scheufler each won a pair of matches Saturday to advance to their respective flight finals at the Rice Invitational.
"Our players competed hard today and left it all on the court," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "We focused on the things we could control, like attitude and effort. We were pushed both mentally and physically throughout the day, choosing to respond to adversity with resilience and grit. We are ready to finish strong tomorrow with the mindset to build on the progress we made today."
Chen, playing in flight 2, defeated Priya Niezgoda of Rice 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 1-0 (4) in the first round, then won another three-setter over Laura Pellicer Perello of USF, 6-1, 6-3. She will face Anna Bowtell of Rice in the flight 2 final Sunday.
Scheufler made the most of her collegiate debut playing in flight 8. She defeated Kexuan Zhou of North Texas, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (6) in the first round, then earned a straight-sets win over Jordan Ortega Mendez from TAMU-Corpus Christi, 6-5, 6-4. She will take on Constandena Nicolau of Sam Houston in the final Sunday.
Junior Lindsay Song and freshman Carolyn Ansari made their season debuts as well; both players dropped their opening two matches in their respective flights.
The Tigers played two doubles matches as well; the team of Chen/Ansari dropped a 6-3 decision to 11th-ranked Rice/Alter of Arkansas, and the team of Song/Scheufler fell to Clark/Tiron of USF, 6-1.
The weekend schedule was altered by inclement weather that washed out almost all play on Friday as no matches were completed. Play will conclude Sunday with one round of singles and one round of doubles.
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Auburn Results – Rice Invitational
Singles
Flight 1
Anastasia Smirnova (Rice) def. Carolyn Ansari (AU), 6-3, 6-1
Martina Zerulo (Arkansas) def. Carolyn Ansari (AU), 6-3, 7-5
Flight 2
Yu Chen (AU) def. Priya Niezgoda (Rice), 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 1-0 (4)
Yu Chen (AU) def. Laura Pellicer Perello (USF), 6-1, 6-3
Flight 7
Carolina Bulatovic (TAMU-CC) def. Lindsay Song (AU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (7)
Rosalie Gerritsen (SHSU) def. Lindsay Song (AU), 0-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (8)
Flight 8
Caraline Scheufler (AU) def. Kexuan Zhou (UNT), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (6)
Caraline Scheufler (AU) def. Jordan Ortega Mendez (TAMU-CC), 6-5, 6-4
Doubles
Flight 1
#11 Rice/Alter (ARK) def. Ansari/Chen (AU), 6-3
Flight 3
Clark/Tiron (USF) def. Song/Scheufler (AU), 6-1