AUBURN, Ala. – It's a huge road weekend for the No. 9 Auburn women's tennis team with a pair of matches at No. 7 Texas A&M and LSU.
The Tigers (16-2, 7-0 SEC) will meet the Aggies (22-1, 8-0) in a battle of the SEC's last two remaining unbeatens Friday night in College Station; the match begins at 5 p.m. CT. Auburn will then travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU (4-9, 3-5) at 11 a.m. CT Sunday.
"Both those programs are really good," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "They're well-coached, there's great talent on each team. To play on the road is always a challenge in front of opposing fans and new conditions, so we're really excited to hit the road.
"We treat every match the same. Whoever we're playing, we're going to walk out there and give our best. We're going to earn opportunities, it's just about capitalizing on those windows that we have."
Auburn made history in a couple of different ways last weekend. With 6-1 wins over No. 33 Arkansas and Missouri, the Tigers ran their SEC record to 7-0, surpassing the 1993 team's 6-0 league start for the best opening to a conference season in program history. In addition, graduate student Georgie Axon became the third player in Auburn history with 100 career singles wins.
"We competed really well," Lilley said. "I don't think we always played our best tennis, but we got better as matches went along. When we found ourselves in some difficult situations, I felt like we were really composed. Overall, a really good weekend. We definitely grew as a team."
Texas A&M has been on a tear, highlighted by a stunning 7-0 win over then-No. 5 Georgia last Sunday to run their league record to 8-0. The Aggies are led by the nation's No. 2-ranked doubles team of Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova, along with one other ranked team and three ranked singles players.
LSU dropped a pair of matches to Georgia and Tennessee last weekend after having won three straight heading into the weekend. The Tigers are led by No. 70 Safiya Carrington and No. 94 Ena Babic in singles.
Links to live stats and live video for both matches are available on the women's tennis schedule page at AuburnTigers.com. In addition, Friday's match will be part of SEC CrossCourt coverage via Cracked Racquets.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Top-10 showdown highlights road weekend for No. 9 Auburn
