No. 4 Auburn women’s tennis will host a doubleheader on Sunday, facing Grand Canyon at 10 a.m. CT and Middle Tennessee State at 2 p.m. CT at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. These matches are the last before the team begins Southeastern Conference play.
Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo explained the approach for the day: “The idea of this Sunday is to get more matches and compete, maybe mix up some doubles pairings and see some different teams before SEC play begins,” Szabo said. “In case we get in a position where we have to switch it up, we want to know people have played matches together. The biggest thing is that we’ve done a lot of individual stuff this week. We’ve been working hard, but we’re a blue-collar team.”
The Tigers hold a 13-1 record after reaching the semifinals at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship earlier this month in Evanston, Illinois. This marks their deepest run in program history at that event, with wins over Northwestern and No. 9 NC State before losing to top-ranked Georgia.
Sophomore Ashton Bowers had notable performances during the championship, earning two straight-set singles victories against NC State and Georgia and securing doubles wins with Ekaterina Khairutdinova in all three matches.
Grand Canyon enters Sunday’s match with a 3-3 record and is scheduled to play UAB on Saturday. Their season includes wins over DePaul, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton. Middle Tennessee State comes into Sunday on a four-match losing streak with an overall record of 1-4.
Fans can follow live video and scoring for both matches at AuburnTigers.com. Attendees will be offered cotton candy while supplies last, and there will be a free kids clinic after the Middle Tennessee State match. Additional information for fans is available online.
Several Auburn players appear in recent ITA rankings: Ashton Bowers (No. 30), Ava Esposito (No. 31), DJ Bennett (No. 58), Angella Okutoyi (No. 84) in singles; Bowers/Bennett (No. 69), Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (No. 76), Esposito/Bennett (No. 84) in doubles.
