AUBURN, Ala. – The seventh-ranked Auburn women's tennis team will finish off a three-match road swing this weekend when they head to the Magnolia State for a pair of matches.
Auburn (12-2, 3-0 SEC) will face No. 64 Mississippi State at 4 p.m. CT Friday, then head north to Oxford to play No. 61 Ole Miss at 1 p.m. CT Sunday.
"Road matches in the SEC are always difficult," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "We know both these teams are going to play well. We know (Ole Miss and Mississippi State) are well-coached and very skilled teams. At the same time, we trust our training, we trust the way we compete.
"Our depth is really, really good. It's an exciting place to be when you're putting three doubles and six singles out there that you trust against any team in the country. They're going to compete and earn opportunities."
With a clutch road win at No. 19 Alabama last weekend, the Tigers continued their unbeaten start to SEC play. Auburn used a big comeback in doubles to secure an early lead, then picked up four singles victories with the final two team points coming in three-set victories.
"It was really close," Lilley said. "Alabama came out and hit us hard in the doubles. I think Georgie (Axon) and Adeline (Flach) did a really good job of staying composed even though they found themselves in a bit of a hole. Our backs were against the wall the whole match. Alabama played terrific tennis. But our girls were really composed. Down the stretch, our ability to handle pressure and remain composed allowed us to play the more aggressive tennis."
Auburn also moved up to their highest ranking of the season at No. 7 in the latest release from the ITA; the Tigers are the highest-ranked team in the SEC this week. The Tigers enter the week with three ranked singles players in No. 54 Ariana Arseneault, No. 57 Selin Ovunc and No. 114 Carolyn Ansari. The doubles team of Arseneault and Ovunc comes in at No. 21 nationally and is off to a 3-0 start in SEC play.
Mississippi State (8-7, 0-4) dropped a pair of matches to LSU and Texas A&M last weekend in SEC play. The Bulldogs are led by two ranked singles players in No. 94 Emmanouela Antonaki and No. 116 Tamara Racine, and MSU's doubles team of Magda Adaloglou and Chloe Cirotte is ranked No. 52.
Ole Miss (7-5, 1-3 SEC) picked up its first league win last weekend over LSU before falling to Texas A&M. The Rebels have three ranked players in No. 35 Tiphanie Fiquet, No. 79 Sabina Machalova and No. 110 Anaelle Leclerq-Ficher. The team of Ludmila Kareisova and Kelsey Mize is ranked 54th in doubles.
Links to live video and live scoring for both matches are available on the schedule page at AuburnTigers.com.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
No. 7 Auburn continues road swing at MSU, Ole Miss
