ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 11 Auburn dropped a neutral site match to 13th ranked Pepperdine on Friday by a 6-1 score at the USTA National Tennis Center in Orlando, Florida. Carolyn Ansari earned her 10th singles win over a ranked opponent this season in the team loss.
After the Wave began the doubles point with a quick victory on court two, Ansari and Selin Ovunc jumped out to a 4-1 lead on court three and cruised to a 6-2 win over Lisa Zaar and Jasmine Conway to leave the doubles point in the hands of Ariana Arseneault and DJ Bennett on court one.
In just their second match paired together this season, the Auburn duo led the third ranked doubles team in the nation, Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen 4-1. Broadus and Tjen fought back to force a tiebreaker and ultimately won the match 7-6 (1) to claim the doubles point for Pepperdine.
In singles, Pepperdine started hot by winning the opening set on all six courts. The Wave earned a quick victory on court six followed by another win on court five to expand its lead to 3-0. On court four, Angella Okutoyi dropped her first set and came back from an early deficit in her second set against No. 120 Anna Campana, but lost 3-6, 4-6. Campana's win clinched the team victory for Pepperdine.
After Auburn suffered two more straight set losses on courts two and three, Carolyn Ansari won the Tigers' first set of the day to force her match against No. 13 Lisa Zarr into a decisive 10-point tiebreaker set. Ansari then won the tiebreaker 10-6 to hand Zarr her first dual singles loss of the season. The win improves Ansari's overall singles record to 11-6 this season.
The win improved Pepperdine's record to 5-2 while the loss dropped Auburn's record to 5-5. All five of the Tigers' losses have come against teams ranked in the top-15.
Up next, Auburn will stay in the Sunshine State to face USF in Tampa. The match is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. CT. Live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at gousfbulls.com.
#13 Pepperdine 6, #11 Auburn 1
Singles Results:
1. #16 Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. #13 Lisa Zaar (PEPPW) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)
2. #6 Savannah Broadus (PEPPW) def. #73 Ariana Arseneault (AUB) 6-4, 6-1
3. #102 Janice Tjen (PEPPW) def. #77 DJ Bennett (AUB) 6-4, 6-3
4. #120 Anna Campana (PEPPW) def. #105 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) 6-3, 6-4
5. #96 Nikki Redelijk (PEPPW) def. Selin Ovunc (AUB) 6-2, 6-2
6. Jasmine Conway (PEPPW) def. Ava Esposito Cogan (AUB) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles Results:
1. #3 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPPW) def. Ariana Arseneault/DJ Bennett (AUB) 7-6 (7-1)
2. Vivian Yang/Nikki Redelijk (PEPPW) def. Adeline Flach/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) 6-1
3. Carolyn Ansari/Selin Ovunc (AUB) def. Lisa Zaar/Jasmine Conway (PEPPW) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3,1; Singles: 6,5,4,2,3,1