OXFORD, Miss. – Fifth-ranked Auburn women’s tennis shut out No. 30 Ole Miss by a 4-0 score on Thursday evening at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford, Mississippi. Auburn won the doubles point, followed by straight-set victories at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 singles positions for its 20th victory of the season.
“Winning 4-0 on the road is never easy,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the match. “They had a good crowd. We found a way to pull back in some doubles matches and build a bunch of leads. I really feel like the girls that were in battles were going to pull through. Now it’s time to get some rest, get on the road and get after it against LSU on Saturday.”
The Auburn pair of Ashton Bowers and Ekaterina Khairutdinova set the tone in doubles with a quick 6-1 win over Beatrice Stagno and Brooklyn Olson at the No. 3 position to improve their doubles record to 16-0 this season. At the No. 2 position, Auburn’s Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat earned their ninth doubles win together this season with a 6-4 victory to clinch the point for the Tigers. Auburn has yet to surrender a doubles point through its first 21 matches of the 2026 season.
Auburn began singles with four opening-set victories on the top three singles courts and the No. 6 position.
Auburn junior Ava Esposito got off to a fast start at the No. 6 position, defeating Ichino Horikawa 6-1 in the opening set. Esposito then finished off a 6-1, 6-3 win to improve her singles record to a perfect 13-0 in dual matches this season and 24-3 overall.
Moments later, Angella Okutoyi notched her third consecutive straight-set singles win at the No. 3 position to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the match. Okutoyi defeated Brooklyn Olson 6-2, 6-1 to improve her dual-match record to 10-2 this season.
At the No. 2 singles position, Khairutdinova edged Alice Soulie in the first set 7-5, then carried that momentum into the second by winning it 6-2 to clinch the match for the Tigers.
The win improves Auburn’s record to 20-1 this season and a perfect 3-0 in conference play. The red-hot Tigers have won seven matches in a row and claimed all six of their road matches in 2026.
Auburn will remain on the road, traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a top-five matchup against No. 4 LSU on Sunday. The match is scheduled to begin at noon CT at the LSU Tennis Complex. Live video and live scoring will be available at LSUSports.net.
#5 Auburn 4, #30 Ole Miss 0
Singles Results:
- #12 Emily Welker (MISS) vs. #33 DJ Bennett (AUB) 3-6, 5-3, unfinished
- #50 E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. Alice Soulie (MISS) 7-5, 6-2
- #91 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Brooklyn Olson (MISS) 6-2, 6-1
- Andrea Nova (MISS) vs. Merna Refaat (AUB) 7-5, 1-4, unfinished
- Riley Crowder (MISS) vs. #27 Ashton Bowers (AUB) 7-5, 4-3, unfinished
- #31 Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Ichino Horikawa (MISS) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles Results:
- #85 Emily Welker/Andrea Nova (MISS) vs. #14 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) 3-4, unfinished
- #39 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Riley Crowder/Alice Soulie (MISS) 6-4
- #83 E. Khairutdinova/Ashton Bowers (AUB) def. Beatrice Stagno/Brooklyn Olson (MISS) 6-1