AUBURN, Ala. – No. 12 Auburn will face its fifth top-25 team of the season on Sunday against sixth-ranked Texas in Austin. Each of Auburn's first eight matches of the season have been played on indoor courts and Sunday's match will be played on the outdoor courts at the Texas Tennis Center, weather permitting.
"We're excited to get out of the indoor courts because we definitely prefer outside," said Auburn head coach Lester Cook. "Obviously, conditions start to come in like wind and heat, but we're going to be focused on things we can control. We can control our attitude, our strategy and our preparation."
The Tigers moved up three spots in the latest ITA team rankings that were released on Wednesday after defeating No. 8 Florida 4-0 during the team's final match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle.
Fifth-year senior Carolyn Ansari, who is ranked as the 13th best singles player in the country, has been at the top of the Auburn singles lineup card for every match this season and holds a 4-1 dual match record including a ranked win over No. 67 Carly Briggs of Florida.
Sophomore Angella Okutoyi will also enter Sunday's matchup with momentum after winning two singles matches during the ITA Indoor Championships including the match-clinching victory against the Gators.
Texas currently holds a 6-2 overall record including four top-25 wins. During the ITA Indoor Championships, the Longhorns defeated No. 9 Texas A&M, lost to third-ranked Oklahoma State and took down No. 12 Ohio State.
Texas has three singles players and three doubles teams ranked by the ITA. Tanya Sasnouskaya, who has played No. 2 singles for the Longhorns this season, is the team's highest-ranked player at 29th and currently holds an 11-9 overall singles record. Sabina Zeynalova has played every match at the top of Texas' singles lineup so far this season and has a 3-3 dual match record.
Sunday will mark just the third all-time meeting between Auburn and Texas with the Longhorns leading the all-time series 2-0. The last meeting between the two squads was during the 2022 NCAA Super Regional round where the Longhorns won the matchup 4-1 at the Texas Tennis Center. The other meeting occurred in 2014, which was also a 4-1 victory by Texas in Austin.
The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on Longhorn Network. Live scoring of the match will also be available online at texassports.com.
No. 12 Women’s tennis to face road test against No. 6 Texas
