Dominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn past Ole Miss

Box Score
Dominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn past Ole MissDominant singles play leads No. 8 Auburn past Ole Miss
David Gray/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 8 Women’s tennis picked up a 4-1 home victory over Ole Miss on Friday evening at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. In the match, which started outdoors before being moved indoors due to rain during singles, Auburn dropped the doubles point before bouncing back with four straight set victories.

“I thought we started a little bit slow in the in the doubles and we played scared,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “You have to attack success and not fear failure in a race to six. We've been a little up and down in doubles lately. We had a really good stretch there in the beginning and middle part of the SEC schedule, so we can play at a high level, but we've got to have make sure we have no doubt in the doubles because every team is good in the SEC, and they'll take it to you if you're not playing your favorite plays and attacking success.

“A great bounce back in in the singles. To win six first sets against Ole Miss, that definitely put the momentum back in our favor and helped us build some big leads on some courts. It put us in a strong position to win every single match there if we had played it out. There was a lot of emotion out there, but a great win to get to 10 SEC wins.”

In doubles, the Rebels earned a quick victory at the No. 3 position before Auburn’s Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat responded with a 6-2 win on court two for their 17th overall doubles victory as a pair this season. With the match tied at three between on court one, Ole Miss’ No. 31 Ludmila Kareisova and Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher picked up a crucial break over No. 20 DJ Bennett and Ava Hrastar then went on to hold serve and win 6-4 to pick up the doubles point for the Rebels.

Auburn turned the match around quickly in singles, winning the first set in all six matches. With all matches in a second set, rain began to fall at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, forcing the match to be moved to the indoor courts just over two hours after the match began.

Bennett jumped out to a 4-2 opening set lead over Emily Welker, then won the set 6-2 on a deciding point in a return game. The Auburn junior then took a 4-1 lead before the match was moved indoors, where she finished off the match 6-2, 6-1 to tie the team score at one. The win marked the 25th singles victory of the season for Bennett as well as the 75th singles win in her career.

An early break helped No. 47 Okutoyi in her opening set against Kareisova, and with a 4-3 lead, the Auburn junior won each of the next two games to claim the first set. She then took that momentum into the second set, posting a bagel to win 6-3, 6-0. Okutoyi has now won six of her last seven singles matches that have reached completion and now has a 24-4 overall record this season.

Just moments later, No. 59 Refaat earned a straight set win at the No. 4 singles position by a 6-3, 6-3 score to put the Tigers one singles win away from a team victory.

At the No. 5 singles position, Auburn’s Ava Esposito dominated Leclercq-Ficher in the first set by winning it 6-2. The two sides continued to go back-and-forth in the second set, eventually leading to a tie at five. Esposito then won two consecutive games to claim the match and clinch the team victory for the Tigers.

Auburn’s fourth consecutive victory on Friday improved its record to 21-5 this season and 10-4 in the SEC. The Tigers have now reached 10 conference victories in a season for the first time since 2022.

Up next, Auburn will conclude the regular season at home against No. 11 LSU on Senior Day on Sunday at noon CT. A Senior Day presentation in honor of Ava Hrastar will take place following the match at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, where admission will be free. Live video and live scoring of the match will be available at AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Tigers app.

 

#8 Auburn 4, #32 Ole Miss 1

Singles Results:

  1. #5 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. Emily Welker (OM-W) 6-2, 6-1
  2. #47 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Ludmila Kareisova (OM-W) 6-3, 6-0
  3. #92 Ava Hrastar (AUB) vs. Lucie Petruzelova (OM-W) 6-4, 5-3, unfinished
  4. #59 Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Alice Soulie (OM-W) 6-3, 6-3
  5. Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Anaelle Leclercq (OM-W) 6-2, 7-5
  6. Alice Battesti (AUB) vs. Andrea Nova (OM-W) 6-4, 4-4, unfinished

Doubles Results:

  1. #31 Ludmila Kareisova/Anaelle Leclercq (OM-W) def. #20 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) 6-4
  2. #50 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Andrea Nova/Brooklyn Olson (OM-W) 6-2
  3. Alice Soulie/Emily Welker (OM-W) def. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) 6-2

 

Time of match: 2:51; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2,1; Singles: 1,2,4,5; Official: Donna Jerome