AUBURN, Ala. – No. 8 Women’s tennis will conclude the regular season with a pair of SEC matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center over the weekend. Auburn will face Ole Miss on Friday at 5 p.m. and No. 11 LSU for senior day on Sunday at noon CT.
“Every weekend, we are playing tough teams and this is a big one as well,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “We expect Ole Miss to be playing spirited with their coach announcing his retirement and while they are fighting for NCAA seeding. LSU is in that five-way tie with us in the SEC standings so that will be a big one as well. They’ve had a great year and have a lot of great players.”
Auburn will enter the final weekend of the regular season with a 20-5 overall record and a 9-4 mark in SEC play. After defeating Kentucky and upsetting No. 6 Tennessee last weekend, the Tigers moved up to No. 8 in the latest ITA National Team Rankings that were released on Tuesday.
Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma are now tied for third in the SEC standings with two conference matches remaining. The top four teams in the league will receive a double bye at the SEC Championship and the Tigers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Auburn graduate student Ava Hrastar went undefeated over the weekend to lead the Tigers to a couple of road SEC victories and provided the match clinching point in Auburn’s 4-2 win over the Volunteers.
The two pivotal wins improved Hrastar’s singles record to 22-11 overall and 11-6 in dual matches prior to facing her former school on Friday. The Auburn graduate student has now won six consecutive singles matches and five singles matches over ranked opponents this season.
Ole Miss will enter Friday’s match with a 13-10 overall record and a 5-8 record in conference matches. The Rebels have had success on the road this season, winning six of their 10 road matches. The squad’s one ranked doubles team, No. 31 Ludmila Kareisova and Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher, has posted a 12-7 dual match record exclusively at the top doubles position this season. Ole Miss leads the all-time series over Auburn 30-21.
LSU dropped just out of the ITA top 10 after falling to No. 8 Oklahoma in a home match on Sunday. The team will enter the weekend 19-5 overall and tied with Auburn in the conference rankings. LSU is 10-3 in matches away from home this season and has three wins over top 10 opponents this season. The Tigers defeated No. 6 UCLA and No. 3 Oklahoma State at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in February and defeated No. 7 Tennessee on March 2.
LSU claims a couple of ranked singles players: No. 21 Cadence Brace and No. 52 Kayla Cross. Brace regularly plays at the top of the LSU singles lineup and holds an 8-6 dual match record this season while Cross typically plays at the No. 2 singles position and has a 10-2 record in dual matches.
Kids in attendance on Friday will be invited to the courts to take part in a free clinic with the players following the match while Kona Ice will be available for free to fans at the beginning of Sunday’s match. Fans are encouraged to stay after the match on Sunday for a Senior Day presentation honoring Ava Hrastar.
Live video and live scoring of both matches will be available online at AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Tigers app.