ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 4 Auburn women’s tennis is set to face No. 13 Michigan on Monday evening at 5 p.m. CT at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor. Monday will mark the first true road match of the season for the Tigers, as Friday’s road win against No. 8 Oklahoma State came via default.
“Michigan is a great team and made the Final Four last season,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said. “I’ve never been to Ann Arbor before, but I know it’s going to be a tough environment to play a tennis match. These are the types of matches we need to win if we want to do something big this year.”
Auburn will enter Monday’s match with a perfect 10-0 overall record. The match will serve as the final regular-season contest before the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, scheduled for Feb. 6-10 in Evanston, Illinois.
Ekaterina Khairutdinova and DJ Bennett have regularly played in the top two singles positions and have seen success so far this season, sporting dual-match records of 5-0 and 4-1, respectively. Auburn has also claimed the doubles point in every match this season, with Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat holding a perfect 6-0 record together.
The Wolverines are 1-2 this season, with both losses coming during ITA Kickoff Weekend to No. 19 Vanderbilt and No. 15 Virginia. Last season, Michigan went 27-5 overall and a perfect 13-0 in Big Ten play. During the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines defeated Youngstown State, Arizona State, No. 14 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma State before falling to No. 2 Texas A&M in the national semifinals. Michigan has four singles players ranked by the ITA, including No. 3 Piper Charney, as well as three ranked doubles teams.
Auburn leads the all-time series with Michigan 2-1, with the most recent meeting being a 4-0 victory for the Tigers in 2018.
Live video and live scoring of Monday’s match will be available at MGoBlue.com.
Auburn players in the rankings (ITA)
Singles:
Ashton Bowers – No. 27
Ava Esposito – No. 28
Alice Battesti – No. 90
Natalie Outcalt – No. 119
Doubles:
Ashton Bowers/DJ Bennett – No. 55
Ava Esposito/DJ Bennett – No. 59