AUBURN, Ala. – No. 4 Auburn women’s tennis will host Missouri on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. CT and No. 13 Vanderbilt on Sunday at noon CT to close the 2026 regular season. Both matches will be held at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, and Sunday’s match will be Senior Day.
“I always say at the beginning of the year that the first weekend is all about the freshman and the last weekend is all about the seniors,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said. “We put ourselves in a good position to host some NCAA matches here in Auburn, so it likely won’t be the last weekend that we play on the courts.
“It will still be a lot of nostalgia, especially for the girls that have been here for a while. I think this is about honoring them the right way and playing for them in the right way so we can get some victories and they can really enjoy this weekend.”
Auburn split its trip to the state of Texas last week, losing to No. 2 Texas A&M 4-3 on Thursday before bouncing back with a 4-0 shutout win over No. 6 Texas on Saturday. The Tigers are 27-3 overall this season and 11-2 in conference play. Texas A&M leads the SEC standings with a 12-1 conference record, with Auburn and Oklahoma just one match behind at 11-2.
Auburn did not move in the rankings, as it stayed at No. 4 in the ITA National Team Rankings and at the top spot in the UTR Sports College Teams Rankings.
On Saturday, Auburn senior Ekaterina Khairutdinova moved up 31 spots in the ITA singles rankings to No. 49 after defeating No. 12 Anastasia Abbagnato 7-5, 7-5 to clinch the match against Texas in her highest-ranked victory of the season. The top Auburn doubles team of DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito also moved up to third in the national doubles rankings released on Tuesday. The pair holds a 12-1 record in dual matches this season.
Missouri will enter Thursday’s match with a 12-15 overall record and a 0-13 record in SEC play. The Tigers dropped a tight home match to Arkansas 4-3 on Thursday and were shut out by No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday. Auburn is undefeated all-time against Missouri, winning all 13 matchups in the series.
Vanderbilt is currently 19-6 overall this season and 9-4 in conference play. The Commodores knocked off No. 1 Georgia at home on Mar. 6 and have only two losses since that match to No. 11 LSU and No. 8 Oklahoma. Vanderbilt senior Bridget Stammel has had a strong season in singles and is currently ranked No. 6 nationally, posting a 25-7 overall record and an 18-4 dual-match record.
The Commodores will face No. 15 Florida on Friday afternoon in Gainesville before facing Auburn on Sunday. Vanderbilt leads the all-time series over Auburn 34-21, but the Tigers have won each of the last four meetings.
Fans in attendance on Thursday will receive free shaved ice from Kona Ice while supplies last, and an Auburn women’s tennis tumbler will be given to each fan at Sunday’s match while supplies last. A Senior Day presentation will take place following Sunday’s match on the competition courts to honor Auburn seniors DJ Bennett, Angella Okutoyi and Ekaterina Khairutdinova.
Live video and live scoring of both matches will be available at AuburnTigers.com. Additional fan information is available at AuburnTigers.com/MatchDay.
Auburn in the rankings (ITA)
Singles:
37 – DJ Bennett
48 – Ashton Bowers
55 – Ava Esposito
72 – Angella Okutoyi
Doubles: