AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn graduate student Georgie Axon was named the SEC Player of the Week for women's tennis, the SEC announced Wednesday.
In addition, after a pair of wins over top-25 opponents last weekend, Auburn (7-1, 2-0 SEC) entered the national rankings for the first time this season, coming in at 21st in the latest ITA release Wednesday morning.
Axon was a major key for the Tigers' weekend sweep in SEC play, winning both of her singles matches and going 1-1 in doubles as Auburn defeated 20th-ranked South Carolina and 22nd-ranked Florida. In Friday's win over South Carolina, Axon provided the clinching point in a 7-6 (6), 7-5 win over the Gamecocks' Silvia Chinellato.
In what was probably the turning point of the team match, Axon found herself down 6-1 in a first-set tiebreaker and facing five set points. But she fought them all off and won seven straight points to claim the tiebreaker and the first set before going on to win the second set 7-5 and clinch the victory for Auburn.
In last year's match with Florida and the match tied 3-3, Axon found her match headed to a third-set tiebreaker, which she lost 7-5. But on Sunday, Axon found a measure of redemption with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Sara Dahlstrom to give Auburn a 3-2 lead in the match and lead to Auburn's first program win over the Gators. Axon leads the Tigers with a 7-1 record in dual match singles and a 13-4 record overall, including the fall season.
The Tigers' national ranking of 21st is their highest since the end of the 2018 regular season, when they were ranked 20th heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Axon's weekly honor is the first of her career and the first Player of the Week nod for an Auburn player since Alizee Michaud earned the award on March 1, 2017.
The Tigers put their top-25 ranking and unbeaten SEC record on the line this weekend with a pair of road matches at No. 10 Vanderbilt (Friday, 3 p.m. CT) and Kentucky (Sunday, 11 a.m. CT).
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