Dominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn over No. 15 Vanderbilt

Box Score
Dominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn over No. 15 VanderbiltDominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn over No. 15 Vanderbilt
Addie Ray/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 8 Women’s tennis began its homestand with a win under the lights at the Yarbrough Tennis Center on Friday night, defeating No. 15 Vanderbilt 6-1. After dropping a close doubles point, the Tigers bounced back with wins at all six singles positions.

“Really tough losing the doubles point because we had a match point for the doubles point and built big leads on the courts that we lost on,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “I spoke to the girls about being mature and handling it, and that I felt like we could win all six singles. And we did that, which is really hard to do against Vanderbilt. They're a great team, well coached and coming off a huge win where they won five singles matches against Texas A&M on Sunday.

“For us to win six singles, especially after that tough doubles point, is a testament to the girls. And the thing I really liked it is when things got close near the end of matches in the singles, we went out and took it and. We had six girls out there fighting. I’ve been preaching that all year that when we have six girls out there really battling, competing and making it tough, we're a really hard team to beat.”

In the doubles point, Auburn’s Merna Refaat and Angella Okutoyi earned their ninth dual match win together, as they defeated Valeria Ray and Trinetra Vijayakumar 6-3. Vanderbilt then responded with a 6-4 win on court three to set up a winner-take-all for the doubles point at the No.1 position. On court one, Vanderbilt’s No. 14 Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster came back from an early deficit to pull even with DJ Bennett and Ava Hrastar at three. The two sides then swapped games, leading to a tiebreaker that the Commodore duo won 7-1 to claim the doubles point.

Auburn sophomore Ava Esposito gained the momentum back for the Tigers in singles, claiming a straight set win quickly at the No. 5 singles position. With the first set tied at four, Esposito held on a crucial deciding point before earning a break in the next game. The Auburn sophomore then cruised through the second set, winning each of the first five games before ultimately defeating Sophia Webster 6-4, 6-1 to tie the team score at one.

Okutoyi jumped out to an early 4-2 lead over No. 56 Valeria Ray on court two before claiming the first set 6-3. With a 2-1 lead in the second set, Ray then picked up a break to lead 3-1 before Okutoyi caught fire and won each of the next five games, including a break in the final game, to win 6-3, 6-3 and give Auburn a 2-1 lead. The win marked the 20th overall of the season for Okutoyi and the 15th in a dual match.

At the No. 4 singles position, Refaat bounced back from dropping the first two games of her first set to win the set 6-4 with the help of a break in the final game over Trinetra Vijayakumar. Refaat then carried that momentum into the second set, winning four of the first five games before claiming the match by a 6-4, 6-3 score.

Refaat’s victory gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead and just one singles win away from clinching a team win. Each of the other three remaining singles matches then entered a third set.

It was freshman Alice Battesti that came through first in three sets to clinch the team victory. Battesti won her opening set at the No. 6 position before Amy Stevens forced a third set. In the decisive third set, the freshman prevailed on a deciding point to win her match 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

After the team win was secured, Hrastar added another point to the total with a three set win of her own on court three. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Hrastar dominated the next two sets to win 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1. Moments later, Bennett also came back from an opening set loss to win the next two sets, highlighted by a tiebreaker win in the third set over No. 11 Celia-Belle Mohr.

The win improves Auburn’s overall record to 16-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play this season. The Tigers’ conference record places them in a three-way tie for fifth best in the SEC with seven conference matches remaining on the schedule.

Auburn will return to the Yarbrough Tennis Center to finish the weekend against Missouri at noon CT. Admission to the match will be free while live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at AuburnTigers.com.

 

#8 Auburn 6, #15 Vanderbilt 1

 

Singles Results:

  1. #4 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #11 Celia-Belle Mohr (VANDY-W) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
  2. #62 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. #56 Valeria Ray (VANDY-W) 6-3, 6-3
  3. Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. #44 Bridget Stammel (VANDY-W) 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-1
  4. #36 Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Trinetra Vijayakumar (VANDY-W) 6-4, 6-3
  5. Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Sophia Webster (VANDY-W) 6-4, 6-1
  6. Alice Battesti (AUB) def. Amy Stevens (VANDY-W) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

Doubles Results:

  1. #14 Celia-Belle Mohr/Sophia Webster (VANDY-W) def. #16 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) 7-6 (7-1)
  2. Merna Refaat/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Valeria Ray/Trinetra Vijayakumar (VANDY-W) 6-3
  3. Bridget Stammel/Amy Stevens (VANDY-W) def. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) 6-4

 

Time of match: 3:40; Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3,1; Singles: 5,2,4,6,3,1; Official: Donna Jerome