AUBURN, Ala. – No. 11 Auburn will travel to face rival No. 21 Alabama as well as Mississippi State on the road this weekend. Auburn and Alabama will play at 3 p.m. CT at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility in Tuscaloosa on Friday while the Tigers will face Mississippi State at noon CT at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Center in Starkville on Sunday.
“I’m new to Auburn but I understand the significance of the Auburn-Alabama rivalry,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “This is a big deal to me and it’s definitely a big deal to the girls. They’ll have a great crowd and I’m expecting a rowdy environment. I think competitors like playing on the road and in nasty environments. I like the us against them mentality and making it personal.”
Last weekend, Auburn bounced back from a tight 4-3 loss to third-ranked Texas A&M on Friday night by defeating No. 9 Texas by a 4-3 score on Sunday. The Tigers are now 13-4 this season and 2-3 in SEC matches.
Auburn sophomore Ava Esposito had a perfect weekend for the Tigers against both of the conference’s teams from the state of Texas, winning both of her singles and both of her doubles matches over the weekend
Esposito and doubles partner Maria Garcia helped the Tigers pick up the doubles point in both matches.. In singles on Sunday, Esposito and Vivian Ovrootsky’s first set entered a lengthy tiebreaker that Esposito eventually prevailed in 11-9. The sophomore then took that momentum into a second set by winning it 6-3 to give Auburn a 3-0 advantage at the time. The Tigers later won the match over the Longhorns for their fourth win over a top 10 program this season and the program’s first win over Texas in four all-time meetings.
Esposito leads the team in singles wins this season, as she holds a 20-11 overall record and a 12-4 record in dual matches. The Auburn southpaw is also the team leader in doubles wins with 19.
Alabama will enter Friday’s match with a 9-4 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the SEC. The Crimson Tide dropped two consecutive matches to No. 16 Vanderbilt and No. 8 LSU but bounced back with a 4-0 win over Ole Miss on Sunday. Sara Nayar has had a perfect start to the season for Alabama in singles, as she has posted a 10-0 dual match record at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions. In the all-time series, Alabama leads the Iron Bowl of tennis 33-25.
Mississippi State currently holds a 10-5 record this season but has not won any of its five conference matches. The Bulldogs came in ranked No. 54 in the ITA National Team Rankings that were released on Tuesday. The Tigers lead the all-time series over the Bulldogs 34-17.
Live video and live scoring of Friday afternoon’s match will be available online at RollTide.com while live video and live scoring of Sunday’s match will be available online at HailState.com.