AUBURN, Ala. – Fresh off a pair of top-25 SEC victories, the 21st-ranked Auburn women's tennis team hits the road for the first time in league play this weekend as they face road matches at Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
The Tigers (7-1, 2-0 SEC) face the 10th-ranked Commodores at 3 p.m. CT Friday in Nashville, then head onto Lexington for an 11 a.m. CT Sunday match with Kentucky. Links to live scoring for both matches can be found on the women's tennis schedule page at AuburnTigers.com.
"We know that this weekend, and every weekend we play SEC opponents, we're going to be challenged," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "Just like in our non-conference segment, there's no team that we're going to take lightly. And I can guarantee that we're not going to surprise any more teams, either. Everyone's going to be ready to play us, just like we're going to be ready to play them.
"Vanderbilt has a great history of success with their program, especially over the last decade. They're a team we played a lot this fall, a team that we can absolutely compete with. I expect a team that will come out fiery, feisty, crafty, and that will play some traditional, aggressive tennis. Kentucky, the same thing – one of the more aggressive teams in the SEC, and they definitely have a nice home-court advantage. They do a great job of winning at home, so we expect two really tough battles on the road."
Auburn moved into the ITA top 25 for the first time in three years after a pair of 4-2 wins over No. 20 South Carolina and No. 22 Florida last weekend at home. In both matches, the Tigers rallied after falling behind 2-0 as the second through sixth singles positions went 8-0 over the weekend.
Graduate student Georgie Axon was named SEC Player of the Week for her efforts, going 2-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles. For the spring, she owns a 7-1 record in singles.
"It's great to see our team competing and preparing the right way, going about their business," Lilley said. "We played both (South Carolina and Florida) really close at home last year. We did a lot better this year capitalizing on the opportunities we earned. I think a lot of the credit goes to our players' mentality, how aggressive we were under pressure. It was an awesome weekend and I'm incredibly proud of the team, but I'm more proud of the way we continue to prepare and practice."
Vanderbilt (8-1, 0-1) played just one match last week, dropping a 4-2 decision to LSU. A scheduled match vs. Texas A&M was postponed. The Commodores have one ranked singles player, No. 20 Christina Rosca.
Kentucky (8-1, 0-1) also fell to LSU last week and had a match with Texas A&M postponed. The Wildcats have the nation's 57th-ranked doubles team in Lesedi Jacobs and Anastasia Tkachenko.
Last season, the Vanderbilt and Kentucky matches were the final two played before the season was halted by the global pandemic. The Tigers fell 4-1 to the Commodores before picking up a 4-3 win at Kentucky, the first SEC victory of the Lilley era.
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No. 21 Auburn continues SEC play at Vandy, Kentucky
