AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's tennis team looks to build on a pair of season-opening wins when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers (2-0) will take on No. 2 North Carolina (2-0) in their opening match at Noon CT Friday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center near the UNC campus. Auburn will then face either Old Dominion (3-0) or Columbia (2-0) Saturday afternoon at either 2:30 or 5 p.m. CT.
"They're always tough," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said of the opening match with North Carolina. "From a talent perspective, they are one of the best teams in the country. But I told our team that we're not going there just to compete. We're going there to win. And if we don't walk in there like we belong, then we won't belong.
"I want it to be a gut check. I want us to face adversity and face pressure situations with some guts and courage. When you have a young team that's willing to step up and play aggressive under pressure, over the long run that's going to pay us a lot of dividends."
Auburn earned a pair of victories to open the season last weekend, defeating Central Arkansas 5-0 and UAB 4-0 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. The Tigers dropped just one set over the two matches and saw junior Madeline Meredith and freshman Selin Ovunc go 2-0 in singles.
"I think it's a coach's job to never be 100 percent pleased," Lilley said. "You're always looking at the finer details, the little things that could have been better. How we prepared, how we went about things the day of the match, before the match - all of those things add into playing their best and enjoying the process of competing.
The winner of this weekend's four-team event will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 7-10 in Chicago.
Last season, Auburn played in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Atlanta, falling to No. 25 Kentucky in the opening match but defeating host and No. 13 Georgia Tech 4-3 in the consolation match.
North Carolina opened the season with a pair of 7-0 wins over Elon and Charleston Southern two weeks ago. Old Dominion downed Norfolk State 6-0 Wednesday to improve to 3-0, and Columbia picked up wins over Long Island and Sacred Heart to head into the week at 2-0.
Links to live stats and live video are available on the women's tennis schedule page at AuburnTigers.com. Updates will also be posted on Twitter (@AuburnWTennis) as they become available throughout each day.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.