AUBURN, Ala. – No. 13 Auburn women’s tennis will open conference play on the road Saturday, facing Florida at noon CT at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Florida.
“I feel really good, and I think we’re an outdoors team,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said. “It’s going to be quite warm in Gainesville, and we’ll be ready for that. Florida is a great team. It’s one of the most successful programs in women’s college tennis history with seven national titles, so we’ll have to be ready to go.
“It’s going to be a big first match in the conference, but honestly every match is going to be really big this year. There are so many good teams in the SEC, and every team is a regional host-type team. We’ll definitely have to lay it all on the line, but if we bring the intensity that the Auburn Tigers are accustomed to bringing, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Tigers enter the match after closing their nonconference schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Grand Canyon and Middle Tennessee on Sunday. Auburn holds a 15-1 overall record going into the weekend, with its only loss coming to top-ranked Georgia in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship semifinals.
Auburn sophomore Merna Refaat returned to competition after a brief hiatus Sunday, earning a doubles win at the No. 1 position as well as a straight-set victory at the No. 3 singles position. Refaat holds a perfect 7-0 singles record in dual matches this season. Ava Esposito and Ashton Bowers also enter Saturday’s match with undefeated dual-match singles records of 10-0 and 9-0, respectively.
In doubles, Refaat and Angella Okutoyi have been consistent at the No. 2 position with a 7-1 dual-match record this season, while Bowers and Ekaterina Khairutdinova are 12-0 this season, primarily at the No. 3 position.
The Gators enter SEC opening weekend with a 4-1 overall record and a 2-0 mark at home. Florida’s only loss of the season came against NC State during ITA Kickoff Weekend, a team Auburn defeated 4-1 in the quarterfinals of ITA Indoors. The Tigers trail the all-time series 46-4 but won last season’s matchup 5-2 in Auburn.
Live video and live scoring of Saturday’s match will be available at FloridaGators.com.
Auburn in the rankings (ITA)
Singles:
26 - Ashton Bowers
27 - Ava Esposito
37 – DJ Bennett
95 – Angella Okutoyi
105 – Alice Battesti
Doubles:
48 – Angella Okutoyi/Ava Esposito
65 – Ashton Bowers/DJ Bennett