No. 13 Auburn women’s tennis will open its Southeastern Conference (SEC) home schedule on Saturday, facing Arkansas at 11 a.m. Central Time and Eastern Kentucky at 3 p.m. The matches will be held at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo commented on the upcoming doubleheader: “It’ll be our last doubleheader of the season, and we’re doing that so everyone can get lots of matches and hopefully everybody will get to play on Saturday,” Szabo said. “Multiple people will play multiple matches, and Arkansas is a good team. I’m friends with the coach and he’s going to have them fired up.
“I really believe everybody’s biggest match of the year is going to be against the Auburn Tigers, so we expect Arkansas to play at their best. If we can play at a high level and compete well, we’ll be in good shape. For Eastern Kentucky, we’re going to be one of the best teams on their schedule and they’re going to bring it. We’ll be excited to get after it and play them on Saturday afternoon.”
The Tigers come into these matches following two conference road wins over Florida and No. 11 Oklahoma, improving their overall record to 17-1 for the season. Auburn has maintained an undefeated record at home this year with an 11-0 mark at Yarbrough Tennis Center.
In Thursday’s match against Oklahoma, players Ekaterina Khairutdinova, Angella Okutoyi, and Merna Refaat all secured straight-set singles victories for Auburn. Khairutdinova holds a 9-1 dual-match record this season as the team’s regular No. 2 singles player.
In doubles competition, Khairutdinova partners with Ashton Bowers; together they are unbeaten in spring matches with a perfect 14-0 record. The Tigers have won the doubles point in every match played this season.
Arkansas enters Saturday’s contest holding an overall record of 8-3 but has yet to win in SEC competition after losing recent conference matches against Oklahoma and Florida by identical scores of 4-0.
Eastern Kentucky brings a 6-7 overall record into Saturday’s matchup after seeing its four-match winning streak ended by Mississippi State earlier this week.
Fans interested in attending can find live video streams and scoring updates for both matches at AuburnTigers.com. Admission is free for both events at Yarbrough Tennis Center; complimentary Moe’s BBQ will also be available while supplies last.
Current Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings list several Auburn players among national singles competitors: Ashton Bowers (26), Ava Esposito (27), DJ Bennett (37), Angella Okutoyi (95), Alice Battesti (105). In doubles rankings: Angella Okutoyi/Ava Esposito (48), Ashton Bowers/DJ Bennett (65), Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (86).
