TOURNAMENT CHAMPS: No. 3 Auburn tops No. 15 LSU in SEC Women’s Tennis Championship final

TOURNAMENT CHAMPS: No. 3 Auburn tops No. 15 LSU in SEC Women’s Tennis Championship finalTOURNAMENT CHAMPS: No. 3 Auburn tops No. 15 LSU in SEC Women’s Tennis Championship final

NORMAN, Okla. – No. 3 Auburn women’s tennis made program history Sunday, claiming its first SEC tournament title at the 2026 SEC Women’s Tennis Championship at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman. Auburn defeated No. 15 LSU in a tight 4-3 match that was decided by a three-set win by freshman Eva Ionescu at the No. 6 singles position.

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“Amazing for the team,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the championship. “That was such a nail-biter and no team down the stretch deserved to lose. We maybe could have won the match about an hour earlier, but that’s the way it goes when all the best teams are playing each other. For Eva (Ionescu) to be in that position to come through, you know, these are memories she’ll have for the rest of her life.

“Getting off the court after winning a quick doubles point was big. We were in a battle and they found a way to turn that match. We weren’t able to turn any matches, which is a really difficult position to be in, but we got it done. Amazing performance from Angie (Okutoyi) to fight back in that first set after being down 0-4 and DJ (Bennett), who comfortably beat one of the best players in college tennis.”

Auburn took all of the momentum in the doubles point, and the tone was set by Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bowers at the No. 3 position, who served a bagel against Carolina Kuhl and Addison Lanton to give Auburn a quick victory. At the No. 2 position, Auburn’s Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat took an early 3-1 lead over LSU’s Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald. Leading 4-2, the Auburn duo won the next two games to clinch the doubles point for Auburn.

Each team then began singles with three opening-set wins, with Auburn’s Bennett, Okutoyi and Ionescu claiming their respective first sets.

LSU tied the match with a straight-set win at the No. 5 position.

Bennett took an early 2-0 lead on the top singles court over Cadence Brace before going on to claim the set 6-3. Bennett then won three straight games to open the second set and dominated the remainder of the set to win 6-3, 6-2 and give Auburn a 2-1 lead.

LSU responded with a 7-5, 6-4 victory for Addison Lanton over Refaat at the No. 4 position to tie the match at 2-2.

At the No. 2 position, Khairutdinova came back from an opening-set loss to LSU’s Kayla Cross by forcing a tiebreak in a back and forth second set, but Cross prevailed 7-5 in the tiebreak to give LSU a 3-2 lead.

At the No. 3 position, McDonald took a 4-0 lead over Okutoyi to begin the first set, but the Auburn senior came back to win six straight games and claim the set 6-4. Trailing 4-2 in the second set, Okutoyi came back to tie it 4-4 after a break on a deciding point. After the set was forced into a tiebreak, Okutoyi pulled out a 7-4 win to claim the match and tie the team score at 3-3. After Okutoyi’s victory, the match at the No. 6 position had just entered a decisive third set.

Ionescu started her match against LSU’s Kinaa Graham by turning a 4-1 opening-set lead into a 6-4 win. Graham then took an early 2-0 advantage in the second set before Ionescu came back to force a tiebreak that Graham claimed 7-4 to force a third set with the championship on the line.

Graham again took a 2-0 advantage in the third set, but Ionescu later claimed a break on a deciding point to tie the set at 3-3. Leading 5-4, the Auburn freshman forced three match points that Graham fought off and eventually forced a tiebreak. With the tiebreak tied at 2-2, Ionescu won each of the next five points to claim the match 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2) and clinch the title for Auburn.

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“Just an amazing tournament,” continued Szabo. “I’m fired up for the girls. They deserve all the credit. We wanted to do it for Auburn, and Auburn has been amazing to me since I’ve been here. We’re going to keep trying to shoot for the stars and try to get back here many more times, but for now we’re going to enjoy it and get a little bit of rest.”

The win improves Auburn’s record to 32-3 this season and the Tigers have also won each of their last six matches. Auburn will discover its seeding for the NCAA women’s tennis championship during the selection show, which is scheduled for April 27 at 4:30 p.m. CT. The show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

 

#3 Auburn 4, #15 LSU 3

Singles Results:

  1. #23 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #18 Cadence Brace (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
  2. #46 Kayla Cross (LSU) def. #28 E. Khairutdinova (AUB) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
  3. #70 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Ella McDonald (LSU) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
  4. #108 Addison Lanton (LSU) def. Merna Refaat (AUB) 7-5, 6-4
  5. Carolina Kuhl (LSU) def. #55 Ashton Bowers (AUB) 6-4, 6-2
  6. Eva Ionescu (AUB) def. Kinaa Graham (LSU) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2)

Doubles Results:

  1. #2 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) vs. #67 Cadence Brace/Kayla Cross (LSU) 4-3, unfinished
  2. #18 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) def. #29 Kenna Erickson/Ella McDonald (LSU) 6-2
  3. Ashton Bowers/E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. Carolina Kuhl/Addison Lanton (LSU) 6-0

 

Time of match: 3:45 Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2; Singles: 5,1,4,2,3,6 Official: Andrew Rogers