The Auburn women’s tennis team, currently ranked No. 5 nationally, will play two Southeastern Conference (SEC) matches on the road this week. The Tigers face Ole Miss in Oxford on Thursday at 4 p.m. CT, followed by a contest against No. 4 LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday at noon CT.
Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo commented on the upcoming challenges: “Ole Miss took a couple of tough road losses last weekend, but playing on the road in the SEC is never easy,” Szabo said. “They beat LSU this year. LSU is missing a couple of girls, but they’re capable. I think if we can play to our level, we should feel good.
“And the LSU match is a huge match. They have three or four professional players on their team that are very highly ranked players. They’re speculated to be one of the most well-financed tennis teams in the country, and we’re going to go out and play a really good match against them. It’s showing a chance of rain, but they have a nice indoor facility there if it does, so we’ll be ready to go. We’re going to have to play our best match of the year down there, I think.”
Auburn comes into Thursday’s game with six consecutive wins and an unblemished record in conference play so far this season after defeating Florida, No. 11 Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The Tigers’ overall record stands at 19-1 with five wins in as many road matches this season.
Senior Angella Okutoyi contributed significantly last weekend with singles victories over Oklahoma’s Edda Mamedova and Arkansas’ Anet Koskel and also helped secure a doubles point for Auburn against Oklahoma. Okutoyi has compiled a 9-2 singles record and a 12-1 doubles mark in dual matches during this campaign.
Ole Miss holds the No. 30 spot in national rankings with an overall record of 6-3 and one win from three SEC contests so far this season. The Rebels opened conference action by upsetting then-No. 4 LSU at home before losing subsequent away matches to top-ranked Georgia and No. 17 South Carolina. Emily Welker leads Ole Miss at singles; she is ranked twelfth nationally with an overall record of 18-2.
LSU enters Saturday’s matchup with an 8-3 overall tally (1-2 SEC). Earlier this season, LSU participated in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship where they secured wins over Tennessee and NC State before falling to Georgia in the quarterfinals.
LSU boasts four ITA-ranked singles players along with three pairs among top-ranked doubles teams nationally; Ella McDonald and Kayla Cross form their highest-ranked duo at ninth.
Fans can follow live video streams and scoring for Thursday’s match via OleMissSports.com while coverage for Saturday’s meeting between Auburn and LSU will be available through LSUSports.net.
Auburn maintains several individual player rankings from ITA including Ashton Bowers (27), Ava Esposito (31), DJ Bennett (33), Ekaterina Khairutdinova (50), Angella Okutoyi (91), Alice Battesti (119) for singles competition as well as multiple pairings within doubles rankings.
