The Auburn women’s tennis team will begin its campaign in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship on Friday, April 16, following a season in which it claimed a share of the first SEC title in program history. The Tigers, ranked No. 3 nationally and seeded third for the tournament, will play at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman.
Head coach Jordan Szabo said, “I think the key to this weekend is just playing loose and playing our game. We’ve got the championship under our belts now, we know how to do it. To finally have that, the team probably has a little bit more swagger about themselves and I think that was really important for us to take that next step. Even though we’re a championship-caliber team, now we’re a championship team.”
Szabo also said that focusing on their aggressive style would be crucial: “Now it’s just about getting back to playing our tennis, playing loose and keep going for our shots. We’re an aggressive team. If we play loose and play one day at a time, we’re going to be really hard to beat. There’s going to be challenges because every team we play is going to be really good.” He highlighted recent successes in doubles matches: “We’ve been fortunate to win so many doubles points and Sunday was a great example of finding a way to save match points to win the doubles point. When we win the doubles, I feel like it’s hard to beat us.”
Auburn finished its regular season with an overall record of 29-3 and went 13-2 in conference matches—both program records for wins—which secured them part of the SEC title alongside Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The Tigers ended their regular season with three consecutive shutout victories including one over No. 13 Vanderbilt.
Senior DJ Bennett enters the tournament after winning both her singles and doubles matches last weekend against Missouri and Vanderbilt opponents ranked No. 49 and No. 6 respectively at singles positions; together with partner Ava Esposito she helped Auburn become ITA’s No. 2-ranked doubles pair—the highest ever for Auburn—with a dual-match record of 14-1 this year.
Last year as hosts of this event, Auburn reached its third-ever semifinal appearance by defeating Vanderbilt before narrowly losing out against then-No.1 Texas A&M.
Live coverage will be available online at SoonerSports.com for Friday’s match; semifinals will stream on SEC Network+ Saturday while Sunday’s final airs on SEC Network.
