Auburn women’s tennis secured a spot in the NCAA Super Regional after defeating Miami 4-0 on May 2 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. The No. 1 ranked Tigers achieved their sixth super regional appearance in program history and will host the next round.
The win marks Auburn’s second consecutive season advancing to this stage, highlighting the team’s consistent performance. Over 400 fans attended the match, creating what head coach Jordan Szabo described as an influential environment for his players.
“It was an amazing atmosphere today,” Szabo said after the match. “The Auburn Family showed up and made a really big difference for us, especially in the doubles. Miami is a really good team, and they’re under-ranked. They had North Carolina on the ropes earlier in the year, and they’re one of the best teams in the country. Paige (Yaroshuk-Tews) is a legendary coach, and that was a really tough draw that we were given.”
Szabo also praised his team’s performance: “We had our best doubles point of the year. Everyone was aggressive and going after their shots. For us to win five first sets in singles was a really good thing, and it was a very impressive day for everyone. Merna (Refaat) was out there fighting and building a lead in the second set, which was huge for us. DJ (Bennett) played a girl who has only lost twice all year, and she was in a commanding position. I really think the difference for us was that we had an amazing crowd, and we’ll need that again next weekend.”
Auburn dominated both doubles and singles play during Saturday’s match. Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bowers won their doubles match decisively at No. 3 with a score of 6-1 while DJ Bennett teamed with Ava Esposito to clinch another victory on court one by winning six straight games following an initial loss.
In singles competition, Angella Okutoyi improved her dual-match record to 19-2 by defeating Sebastianna Scilipoti with scores of 6-3, 6-2; Bowers continued her strong form by winning against Jaquelyn Ogunwale; Khairutdinova clinched Auburn’s fourth point by overcoming Sofia Rocchetti.
The Tigers now hold an overall record of 34-3 this season with an undefeated home streak at 21-0 heading into their first-ever hosting of an NCAA round of sixteen next weekend against either Duke or Tennessee.
