SUPER REGIONAL BOUND: No. 9 Auburn downs No. 24 Wisconsin in NCAA Championship Round of 32

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SUPER REGIONAL BOUND: No. 9 Auburn downs No. 24 Wisconsin in NCAA Championship Round of 32SUPER REGIONAL BOUND: No. 9 Auburn downs No. 24 Wisconsin in NCAA Championship Round of 32
Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 9 Women’s tennis earned its fifth trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in program history on Saturday, defeating No. 24 Wisconsin 4-1 to claim the NCAA Auburn Regional. The Tigers claimed the doubles point followed by straight set singles wins from Alice Battesti, Merna Refaat and Ava Hrastar to punch their ticket to the super regional round.

“It’s a really big deal for the girls to get to the Sweet 16,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the victory. “We’ve got goals of going to Waco and doing damage there, so you have to make it through the rounds that get you there. We were fortunate enough to play at home for the first couple of rounds and have home court advantage and I definitely think it mattered today.

“I want to give a shoutout to the crew here at Auburn that was out there trying to get the courts dry. Nobody thought we were going to get to play outside today, but they did an amazing job to give us the opportunity to play outside where the NCAA Championship should be played.”

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In doubles, Refaat and Angella Okutoyi set the tone on court two, winning each of the first five games before claiming the match 6-1 for their second doubles victory of the weekend. Leading 3-2 at the No. 3 doubles position, Auburn’s Ava Esposito and Maria Garica broke to love over Tianna Rangan and Parker Christensen before ultimately winning the match 6-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Tigers.

Auburn kept that momentum going in singles with quick opening set victories from Okutoyi, Refaat and Battesti. Wisconsin struck first in singles with a straight set victory at the No. 5 position that tied the match at one.

On court six, Alice Battesti won her seventh consecutive singles match in convincing fashion over Ellison Reynoldson by a 6-2, 6-1 score.

With the first set tied at three at the No. 4 position, Refaat won three straight games over Rangan to win the set 6-3. The Auburn freshman then took that momentum into the second set, winning it 6-2. Refaat and Battesti finished their respective matches just seconds apart to give Auburn a 3-1 lead.

On the top singles court, Wisconsin’s No. 10 Maria Sholokhova took an early 4-2 lead over DJ Bennett in the first set before Bennett came back to force a tiebreaker. Sholokhova again took an early advantage in the tiebreaker by winning the first five points. Bennett continued to battle and won the tiebreaker 11-9 to shift the momentum her way in the match and give Auburn its fifth first set win.

Hrastar won each of her first four games in the opening set over Ekaterina Ivanova on court three. Ivanova took the momentum away from Hrastar by winning the next four consecutive games to tie the set. With the set tied at five, the Auburn graduate student broke to love at a crucial point in the set which led to a 7-5 opening set win.

With the second set tied at three, Hrastar picked up a break, then held serve to win the match and clinch the team victory.

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“Wisconsin is a top 25 team who has done really well and has not lost many matches this year,” continued Szabo. “We played a great doubles point and really built some leads on a couple of courts. We got two pretty clinical wins on courts four and six. The thing I liked on those courts is that we built leads and it took pressure off the other players. For Ava (Hrastar) to come through in her last year to clinch this match for us is a memory that she’ll have forever.”

The win improved Auburn’s overall record to 25-6 this season and matches the furthest postseason finish in program history.

Up next, Auburn will travel to Durham, North Carolina, to face No. 8 Duke in the NCAA Super Regional. The match will be played Friday, May 9 at 4 p.m. CT at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

 

#9 Auburn 4, #24 Wisconsin 1

Singles Results:

  1. #4 DJ Bennett (AUB) vs. #10 Maria Sholokhova (WISC) 7-6 (11-9), 3-2, unfinished
  2. #53 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. #117 Taylor Cataldi (WISC) 6-1, 1-6, 4-5, unfinished
  3. #57 Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. Ekaterina Ivanova (WISC) 7-5, 6-4
  4. #64 Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Tianna Rangan (WISC) 6-3, 6-2
  5. Ariel Johnson (WISC) def. Ava Esposito (AUB) 6-3, 6-1
  6. Alice Battesti (AUB) def. Ellison Reynoldson (WISC) 6-2, 6-1

Doubles Results:

  1. #13 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) vs. #34 Maria Sholokhova/Ariel Johnson (WISC) 4-3, unfinished
  2. #46 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Ekaterina Ivanova/Taylor Cataldi (WISC) 6-1
  3. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) def. Tianna Rangan/Parker Christensen (WISC) 6-3

 

Time of match: 2:34; Order of finish: Doubles: 2,3; Singles: 5,6,4,3; Official: Donna Jerome