COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 4 Auburn women’s tennis made it 11 consecutive wins Thursday afternoon, defeating No. 24 South Carolina 4-1 at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The Tigers won the doubles point and earned straight-set singles wins from Angella Okutoyi, Ashton Bowers and Merna Refaat to claim the victory in just over two hours.
“Good win for the girls at a tough place to play,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said. “To win in about two hours, we’ll definitely take it. Played a great doubles point and dominated on all the courts. They made us work for it on a bunch of courts. They make a ton of balls, it’s really slow conditions, and it was a battle.
“I know Katya (Khairutdinova) is going to be better for the experience she had, but Merna, Ashton and Angie had really dominant wins, and I thought DJ (Bennett) played a great match and was a couple points away from winning, too. It was nice to see Stefani (Webb) out there battling. We’ll be better off for it, get a little rest, then travel over to Athens and get ready for the Bulldogs on Saturday.”
Auburn wasted no time putting the pressure on in the doubles point. Bowers and Ekaterina Khairutdinova won each of the first four games against South Carolina’s Kaitlyn Carnicella and Jana Stojanova at the No. 3 position, leading to a dominant 6-1 win. At No. 2 doubles, Okutoyi and Refaat jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Sara Borkop and Jane Dunyon and ultimately won 6-2 to improve their record to 11-1 this spring and clinch the doubles point.
The doubles victories continue the team’s impressive streak, as Auburn has won the doubles point in all 25 matches this season.
The Tigers continued their momentum from doubles, winning the opening set on four courts to begin singles.
Bowers cruised through her first set at the No. 4 singles position, winning 6-1 over Taylor Goetz. The Auburn sophomore then won four straight games to open the second set before eventually closing out the match 6-1, 6-2. Bowers remains undefeated in singles this spring, improving to 15-0 in dual matches and 5-0 in SEC play.
At the No. 3 singles position, Okutoyi took a 5-1 lead over Sara Borkop in the first set before winning it 6-2, then built a 3-0 lead by breaking serve twice to begin the second set. Borkop responded with a break of her own to cut the lead to 3-1, but the Auburn senior won the next three consecutive games to win 6-2, 6-1 and give the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the match.
South Carolina then closed out a straight-set win at the No. 2 position to cut Auburn’s lead to 3-1.
Refaat faced South Carolina’s Jana Stojanova at No. 5 singles and took an early 4-1 lead in the opening set. A break by Stojanova helped cut the lead to 4-3, but Refaat won the next two games, including a break to 15 in the final game, to claim the opening set 6-3. The two sides traded games early in the second set before the Auburn sophomore earned a crucial break to take a 5-3 lead and held serve in the final game to win 6-3, 6-3 for her 12th dual-match singles win of the season and clinch the team victory for Auburn.
The victory improves Auburn’s record to 24-1 this season, just one win away from tying the program record for wins in a year. The Tigers also remain unbeaten in conference play, leading the SEC regular-season standings at 8-0.
Up next, the Tigers will travel to Athens, Georgia, to face top-ranked Georgia in a rivalry match Saturday. The match will begin at 2 p.m. CT at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, and coverage will be available at GeorgiaDogs.com.
#4 Auburn 4, #24 South Carolina 1
Singles Results:
- #56 Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) vs. #43 DJ Bennett (AUB) 4-6, 2-4, unfinished
- #52 Helena Buchwald (SC) def. #55 E. Khairutdinova (AUB) 6-1, 7-5
- #94 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Sara Borkop (SC) 6-2, 6-1
- #38 Ashton Bowers (AUB) def. Taylor Goetz (SC) 6-1, 6-2
- #122 Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Jana Stojanova (SC) 6-3, 6-3
- Lauren Friedman (SC) vs. Stefani Webb (AUB) 7-6 (7-5), 1-3, unfinished
Doubles Results:
- #16 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) vs. #9 Lauren Friedman/Helena Buchwald (SC) 4-2, unfinished
- #20 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Jane Dunyon/Sara Borkop (SC) 6-2
- Ashton Bowers/E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. Kaitlyn Carnicella/Jana Stojanova (SC) 6-1
Time of match: 2:07 Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2; Singles: 4,2,3,5