No. 5 Auburn downs Kansas State 4-0 at home

Box Score
by Riley Hubbard
No. 5 Auburn downs Kansas State 4-0 at homeNo. 5 Auburn downs Kansas State 4-0 at home
David Gray/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 5 Auburn defended its undefeated home record on Saturday, shutting out Kansas State by a 4-0 score at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama.

“It's never easy coming off Indoors where you're in a certain place for a while, then you have to come back and get some work in after some rest. We’ve been outside this week, and then we had to play inside today which is never easy. I thought we did a better job in the doubles. I still think we need to be killers a little bit more in that, but I thought we played well on the ball.

“At the end of the day, we're playing a Big 12 program and we didn't lose a set. So we’ll take that any day of the week. I think that if we can keep working and doing the right things for ourselves, we’ll give ourselves a good opportunity to start the SEC well next week.”

DJ Bennett and Ava Hrastar gave Auburn a quick start in the doubles, defeating Maralgoo Chogsomjav and Charlotte Keitel 6-1 on the top doubles court. On court three, Ava Esposito and Maria Garcia were tied at three with Sana Garakani and Tereza Polakova before winning the next two games to take a 5-3 advantage. The Auburn pair then came back from trailing the final game to win the match 6-3 and clinch the doubles point for the Tigers. The win marked the sixth of the spring for Esposito and Garcia as a doubles team.

Playing in her first singles match since January 21, Garcia got off to a hot start on court six, claiming each of the first four games of the opening set before winning 6-1. The freshman fell behind 2-1 early in the second set, but won five games in a row to close out the match in straight sets.

On court two, Hrastar took an early 3-1 lead over Chogsomjav before taking the first set 6-3. She then cruised through the second set for a 6-3, 6-1 victory for her 15th overall singles win of the season. Hrastar’s win gave Auburn a 3-0 advantage and put the team one singles win away from a victory.

Ava Esposito continued her impressive play with a straight set win of her own on court five. Esposito led the opening set 5-2 before fending off a late run by Veronika Kulhava to win the set 6-4. Esposito then won five consecutive games to finish off the second set, including a deciding point winner in the final game. The sophomore’s 6-4, 6-1 win improved her dual match singles record to 7-1 this season and clinched the team win for the Tigers.

The win improved Auburn’s record to 11-1 before the conference schedule opens on Sunday while Kansas State’s record dropped to 2-3 this season.

The Tigers will welcome No. 21 Florida to the Plains to open conference play on Sunday at noon CT. Admission to the match at the Yarbrough Tennis Center will be free. Live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at AuburnTigers.com.

 

#5 Auburn 4, Kansas State 0

Singles Results:

  1. #2 DJ Bennett (AUB) vs. Charlotte Keitel (KSU) 6-1, 4-4, unfinished
  2. #116 Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. Maralgoo Chogsomjav (KSU) 6-3, 6-1
  3. #58 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. Maria Santos (KSU) 6-4, 5-4, unfinished
  4. #22 Merna Refaat (AUB) vs. Tereza Polakova (KSU) 6-4, 5-3, unfinished
  5. Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Sana Garakani (KSU) 6-4, 6-1
  6. Maria Garcia (AUB) def. Veronika Kulhava (KSU) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles Results:

  1. #12 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. Maralgoo Chogsomjav/Charlotte Keitel (KSU) 6-1
  2. #51 Merna Refaat/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. Veronika Kulhava/Maria Santos (KSU) 4-4, unfinished
  3. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) def. Sana Garakani/Tereza Polakova (KSU) 6-3

Time of match: 1:20; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 6,2,5