AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn junior Angella Okutoyi has been named SEC Player of the Week, the conference office announced on Wednesday.
The Auburn junior helped provide the clinching match for the doubles point as well as the clinching point in singles in Auburn’s historic 4-0 victory over No. 3 Oklahoma State. Auburn’s win on Saturday marked the program’s highest ranked victory since 2007.
In doubles, Oklahoma State’s Gracie Epps and Marcela Lopez took an early 4-1 lead on Okutoyi and Merna Refaat. The Auburn duo fought back with three straight games to tie the match at five highlighted by a crucial hold on an Okutoyi serve game. The Auburn duo then won a deciding point to pick up a break in the next game and went on to win the match 7-5 and clinch the doubles point for the Tigers.
The Nairobi, Kenya native dropped the first set to No. 33 Gracie Epps but came back with a 6-4 win in the second set. The Auburn junior earned two breaks to take a 4-0 lead in the final set before ultimately winning the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to begin the celebration with her teammates.
Okutoyi and the Tigers will begin the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday in Evanston, Illinois. Auburn will face No. 4 Stanford in the round of 16 match on Friday.