No. 10 Tigers pull off upset over No. 4 Stanford in first round of ITA Indoors

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No. 10 Tigers pull off upset over No. 4 Stanford in first round of ITA IndoorsNo. 10 Tigers pull off upset over No. 4 Stanford in first round of ITA Indoors

EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 10 Auburn earned an upset over No. 4 Stanford in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday afternoon at the Combre Tennis Center in Evanston, Illinois. The win marks the first time that the Tigers have advanced to the second round of the event and the second top-five team they’ve defeated in the past week.

On top of being the fourth ranked team in the nation this season, Stanford is one of the most historically successful teams in women’s tennis. The Cardinal claim 21 national titles, 29 Pac-12 titles and have made 42 NCAA Tournament appearances. Friday was the first ever meeting between Auburn and Stanford.

“I thought that we didn't necessarily play our best tennis, but we competed really well when it mattered, especially in the singles,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the upset victory. “I thought we made the doubles a lot trickier than it needed to be, and I challenged the girls after the doubles point to go be champions in the big moments and go out and take it. I think we did a good job of doing that down the stretch in the singles.

“A couple of huge wins. Angella (Okutoyi)’s opponent won the Junior U.S. Open, DJ (Bennett)’s opponent has done really well at the professional level. So it's two big wins for DJ and Angie. (Ava) Esposito is just still kind of getting her feet wet, and she's having some really big wins for us. I'm really proud of the girls, but this is the standard we want. We want to be playing the Stanfords of the world and challenging them. Hopefully this is just another step in the right direction.”

In doubles, Ava Esposito and Maria Garcia jumped out to a 3-1 lead over Katherine Hui and Caroline Driscoll at the No. 3 position. Hui and Driscoll then took a 4-3 lead before the Auburn freshman pair won each of the next three games to win, including two aces in the final game. Stanford responded with a win on the top doubles court, leaving the doubles point up to the No. 2 position.

Auburn’s Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat cruised to a 5-1 lead on the court until Valencia Xu and Chidimma Okpara got the momentum back with five consecutive wins before Okutoyi and Refaat forced the tiebreaker by winning a serve game. The Tiger duo prevailed in the tight tiebreaker 7-5 to claim the doubles point and regain the momentum before singles.

Auburn junior DJ Bennett and No. 8 Valerie Glozman were locked in a tight opening set on the top singles court. Glozman earned the first break before Bennett earned a break of her own to tie the set at four. With the set tied at four, the Auburn junior won eight straight points to run away with the first set. She then took that momentum into the second set, dominating Glozman with a 7-5, 6-1 victory. Bennett now holds a 17-4 overall singles record and is 5-0 in dual matches.

At the No. 5 singles position, Esposito got off to a hot start and a 6-3 opening set victory. Esposito and Okpara traded games late into a long second set. Leading 6-5, Esposito had a chance to earn a break for the victory, but Okpara won a deciding point in the final game to force a tiebreaker. Okpara then led the Auburn sophomore 3-1 in the tiebreaker before Esposito won five consecutive points to take the lead and eventually claimed the straight set win.

Just moments after Esposito’s win, Okutoyi closed out a straight set win of her own at the No. 3 singles position. Katherine Hui came back from an early 5-3 deficit to Okutoyi in the first set to force a tiebreaker, but Okutoyi dominated in the breaker 7-1. The reigning SEC Player of the Week then took that momentum into the second set by winning each of the first three games. The set pulled to a tie at four later in the set, but the Auburn junior won a serve game on a deciding point before winning four straight points in the next return game to claim the victory and clinch the historic win for the Tigers. With the win, Okuotyi is now 12-2 overall in singles and an undefeated 7-0 in dual matches to start the season.  

The upset improves Auburn’s record to 9-0 and advances it to the second round of the event. The Tigers will face the winner of Friday evening’s match between the No. 1 Georgia and Northwestern on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT.

“We will play at the same time tomorrow, so we'll be able to prepare very similarly,” Szabo said about the second round. “I think we always play better the more tennis we play just like we did out in California. We're going to have a tough match whether we play Georgia or Northwestern. Whoever we play, we're going to be thoroughly challenged, but I'm excited to get another opportunity to play in the main draw. We’ll be better off for today's match. It’s time to get some rest, recover, be professionals and get ready to go tomorrow.”

Live video of Saturday’s match will be available on Playsight, while a broadcast of the match will be streaming on Cracked Racquet’s YouTube channel. Live scoring will also be available through ioncourt.com.

 

 

#10 Auburn 4, #4 Stanford 1

 

Singles Results:

  1. #2 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #8 Valerie Glozman (STAN) 7-5, 6-1
  2. #116 Ava Hrastar (AUB) vs. #18 Connie Ma (STAN) 4-6, 3-4, unfinished
  3. #58 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Katherine Hui (STAN) 7-6 (1), 6-4
  4. Valencia Xu (STAN) def. #22 Merna Refaat (AUB) 6-3, 6-1
  5. Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Chidimma Okpara (STAN) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
  6. Alice Battesti (AUB) vs. Caroline Driscoll (STAN) 4-6, 4-2, unfinished

 

Doubles Results:

  1. #49 Connie Ma/Valerie Glozman (STAN) def. #12 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) 6-2
  2. #51 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Valencia Xu/Chidimma Okpara (STAN) 7-6 (5)
  3. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) def. Katherine Hui/Caroline Driscoll (STAN) 6-4

 

Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1,2; Singles: 1,4,5,3