No. 13 Auburn women’s tennis will begin its Southeastern Conference (SEC) season on Saturday with an away match against Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. The match is scheduled to start at noon CT.
Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo commented on the upcoming challenge, saying, “I feel really good, and I think we’re an outdoors team. It’s going to be quite warm in Gainesville, and we’ll be ready for that. Florida is a great team. It’s one of the most successful programs in women’s college tennis history with seven national titles, so we’ll have to be ready to go.
“It’s going to be a big first match in the conference, but honestly every match is going to be really big this year. There are so many good teams in the SEC, and every team is a regional host-type team. We’ll definitely have to lay it all on the line, but if we bring the intensity that the Auburn Tigers are accustomed to bringing, we’ll be in good shape.”
Auburn approaches this matchup after sweeping Grand Canyon and Middle Tennessee in their final nonconference doubleheader last Sunday. The Tigers have compiled a 15-1 record so far this season; their only loss was against top-ranked Georgia during the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
Sophomore Merna Refaat made her return last Sunday after a short break from competition and contributed with wins both in doubles (at No. 1 position) and singles (at No. 3). She currently has an undefeated singles record of 7-0 in dual matches this season. Teammates Ava Esposito and Ashton Bowers also remain unbeaten in singles play for dual matches, holding records of 10-0 and 9-0 respectively.
In doubles competition, Refaat partners with Angella Okutoyi at No. 2 position where they have achieved a 7-1 record this season. Bowers pairs with Ekaterina Khairutdinova primarily at No. 3 doubles where they are unbeaten at 12-0.
Florida enters SEC play holding a 4-1 overall record and remains undefeated at home (2-0). Their only loss came against NC State during ITA Kickoff Weekend—a team Auburn previously beat 4-1 in the quarterfinals of ITA Indoors tournament earlier this year. Historically, Florida leads the series between these two teams by a wide margin (46-4), but Auburn won last year’s encounter by a score of 5-2 when playing at home.
Fans can follow live video coverage and scoring for Saturday’s match through FloridaGators.com.
Several Auburn players feature prominently in current ITA rankings: Ashton Bowers (#26), Ava Esposito (#27), DJ Bennett (#37), Angella Okutoyi (#95), Alice Battesti (#105) appear among ranked singles players; while three Tiger pairs are listed among top doubles teams—Okutoyi/Esposito (#48), Bowers/Bennett (#65), Okutoyi/Refaat (#86).
