No. 13 Tigers win thriller over No. 11 USC to earn bid to ITA Indoors

Box Score
No. 13 Tigers win thriller over No. 11 USC to earn bid to ITA IndoorsNo. 13 Tigers win thriller over No. 11 USC to earn bid to ITA Indoors

LOS ANGELES- No. 13 Women’s tennis defeated No. 11 USC in dramatic fashion by a 4-2 final score on Saturday at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium in Los Angeles. Freshman Alice Battesti provided the winning point for Auburn in the second dual match of her college career. With the win, Auburn has earned a bid to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for the fourth consecutive season.

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"Great win for the girls, we need to be more mature and stop the bleeding in doubles when things go south," Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the victory. "We made a good adjustment when singles started. Time to rest a little and get back to work."

USC gained momentum with a strong doubles point, winning on courts one and three. With the match tied 1-1, Lily Fairclough and Grace Piper, the seventh ranked doubles team in the nation, won five games to defeat DJ Bennett and Ava Hrastar on the top doubles court. Moments later, the Trojans claimed court three by a 6-2 score to earn the doubles point.

On the top singles court, No. 37 Piper won each of the first three games of the opening set over second-ranked Bennett, but the Auburn junior rattled off six consecutive games to claim the opening set and regain the momentum in the match. Bennett started the next set with three straight games of her own before ultimately winning 6-3, 6-2 to tie the team score at one.

Junior Angella Okutoyi was tied with Lily Fairclough at four in the first set of her match on court three before winning the next two games to take the set. Okutoyi then came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the second set 6-3 and provide Auburn with another straight set singles win. The win improved Okutoyi’s overall singles record to 10-2 this season.

Shortly after Okutoyi’s victory, freshman Merna Refaat defeated No. 57 Immi Haddad in straight sets to put the Tigers within one point of the upset victory. Refaat carried her momentum from the first set into the second, winning three straight to open the set and going on to win the match 6-2, 6-4. With a 3-1 advantage, Auburn needed a singles win from one of the three courts that were not completed to clinch the victory.

Battesti won each of the first three games to open her match against Parker Fry before Fry came back to later tie the set. The Auburn freshman later earned a break to take a 6-5 advantage and held to win the first set 7-5. In the second set, Fry took an early 2-1 lead before Battesti came back to win the set 6-4 and begin a celebration with her teammates on court six.

With the win, Auburn remains undefeated at 7-0 this season. The Tigers will return home to face No. 4 Oklahoma State at the Yarbrough Tennis Center on Feb. 1 before taking the trip to Illinois for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, which will be played Feb. 7-11.

 

#13 Auburn 4, #11 USC 2

Singles Results:

  1. #2 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #37 Grace Piper (USC) 6-3, 6-2
  2. #45 Emma Charney (USC) vs. #69 Ava Hrastar (AUB) 5-7, 6-2, 1-1, unfinished
  3. #110 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Lily Fairclough (USC) 6-4, 6-3
  4. #22 Merna Refaat (AUB) def. #57 Imma Haddad (USC) 6-2, 6-4
  5. Jana Hossam (USC) def. Ava Esposito (AUB) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
  6. Alice Battesti (AUB) def. Parker Fry (USC) 7-5, 6-4

 

Doubles Results:

  1. #7 Lily Fairclough/Grace Piper (USC) def. #16 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) 6-1
  2. Sloane Morra/Jana Hossam (USC) vs. #97 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) 4-2, unfinished
  3. Emma Charney/Parker Fry (USC) def. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) 6-2

 

Time of match: 2:43; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 1,3,4,5,6