AUBURN, Ala. – No. 16 Women's tennis will play 24th ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Crimson Tide is the first of Auburn's three road matches to finish the regular season.
"We've got to stay focused and not think too much about our seeding at the tournament," said Auburn interim head coach Lester Cook. "We want to take it one point at a time, but it's obviously in the back of the head that this match is important for trying to get a couple of byes.
Auburn will enter Friday's match with momentum after defeating No. 4 Georgia in dramatic fashion 4-3. With the match tied at three and only one match remaining, fifth-year senior Carolyn Ansari defeated No. 24 Dasha Vidmanova in a dramatic three-set match on court one to give Auburn the win in the final home regular season match of the season.
Ansari's pair of singles wins over the weekend pushed her overall record to 17-9 and her dual match record to 11-5, with all of her dual matches being played at the top of the Auburn lineup. In the latest singles rankings that were released on Tuesday, the Auburn fifth-year senior achieved the highest ranking of her career at No. 7.
"Alabama has played a lot of tough matches and had a lot of great results," continued Cook. "They're right behind us in the conference standings and every match counts right now."
The Crimson Tide will enter Friday's match with a 14-6 overall record and a 5-5 mark in SEC matches, which is the eighth best in the conference. Alabama is in the middle of a three-match losing streak, featuring losses to Ole Miss in Oxford, Georgia at home and Tennesseee at home.
Loudmilla Bencheikh, who is ranked 49th in singles by the ITA, regularly plays No. 1 singles for the Crimson Tide and holds a 7-9 dual match record, but has struggled lately with five straight singles losses and a 1-6 record against SEC opponents. Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser make up Alabama's top doubles team and holds a 10-3 dual match record this season. The Crimson Tide duo is ranked No. 13 in the nation by the ITA.
Friday's rivalry match will be played at 5 p.m. CT at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility where live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at rolltide.com.
No. 16 Auburn to face rival No. 24 Alabama on the road
