AUBURN, Ala. – No. 10 Women’s tennis is set to host a top 10 matchup on Saturday against No. 3 Oklahoma State at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. The battle of the two unbeaten squads will be played Saturday at noon CT.
“They had a great year last year and were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said about the Cowgirls. “It’ll be another tough match, but I think if we have six girls that are competing at a really high level we’ll be in good shape going forward. They have a lot of good players like we do, so it’s going to be a point here or there and should be an exciting college tennis match. Win or lose, it’ll put us in a really good spot going into National Indoors. This is why you come and play at a school like Auburn- to play in big matches like this.”
Auburn cracked the ITA top-10 for the first time this season on Wednesday after defeating San Diego 4-0 and upsetting then-No. 11 USC 4-2 during ITA Kickoff Weekend in Los Angeles to punch its ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship that will be played later this month.
Auburn freshman Merna Refaat helped the Tigers capture the two wins in Los Angeles with a couple dominant straight-set singles wins. Against San Diego, Refaat set the tone early in singles with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Anna Linn Puls in a quick match that lasted just over one hour and in the Saturday match against the Trojans, Refaat defeated No. 57 Immi Haddad in straight sets to put the Tigers within one point of the upset victory. The two singles victories extended Refaat’s winning streak to six to begin the 2025 campaign and improved her overall record to 14-1 for the 2024-25 season.
Refaat’s regular doubles partner, Angella Okutoyi, also won both of her singles matches at the No. 3 position over the weekend, winning in straight sets on both Friday and Saturday. The junior will enter the weekend with a 10-2 singles record for the season as well as a perfect 5-0 singles record in dual matches.
Oklahoma State has started its 2025 season with five consecutive wins including victories over Clemson and Arkansas during ITA Kickoff Weekend after reaching the NCAA Super Regionals in 2024. The Cowgirls have four singles players as well as two doubles teams ranked by the ITA.
No. 33 Gracie Epps, who primarily has been playing in the No. 3 singles position as of late, has started the season strong with five straight-set victories and a 5-0 dual match singles record. Anastasiya Komar and Rose Marie Nijkamp, the No. 34 doubles team in the country, have played each match at the top of the Cowgirls doubles lineup and hold a perfect 5-0 record this season.
The match will begin at noon CT on the Yarbrough Tennis Center’s outdoor courts, where admission is free to fans. The match will feature a precision target challenge for the Kids Club Southern Showdown. At the conclusion of the match, all kids may bring their racket to take part in a free tennis clinic on the courts hosted by members of the Auburn women’s tennis team.
Live video and live scoring of the top-10 showdown will be available online at AuburnTigers.com.