Doubles teams shine Saturday at Marliss Gruver Invite

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn earned four doubles wins, including a flight championship, on Saturday at the Marliss Gruver Fall Invitational at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
 
Junior Taylor Russo and freshman Sophia Graver captured the Flight 1 doubles title with two wins on the day. The Auburn pair won their semifinal match over Georgia State's Ramirez/Stanescu, 8-5, then defeated the nation's No. 31-ranked team of Bortles & De Jong of Ole Miss, 8-5, to win the flight championship. The Auburn pair improved to 6-1 on the season.
 
Two other Tiger doubles pairings earned one win each Saturday. Seniors Alannah Griffin and Caroline Turner won their consolation semifinal match in flight 2 over Oklahoma's Motosono/Rico-Garcia, 8-5. The pair then pushed Georgia State's Muminovic/Chivu to the limit in the consolation final before falling in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (4).
 
In the other consolation semifinal, freshman Annabella Bowen and sophomore Lindsay Song dropped an 8-5 decision to Muminovic/Chivu, then bounced back with an 8-7 (5) win over Motosono/Rico-Garcia in the seventh-place match.
 
The Tigers came up short in singles play, dropping five matches on the day.
 
The final day of the Marliss Gruver Fall Invitational gets underway at 9 a.m. Sunday with 16 singles matches on the schedule to close out the weekend. Admission is free to all fans.
 
For live updates from the tournament and the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
 
Auburn Women's Tennis Results
Marliss Gruver Fall Invitational – Saturday, Oct. 27
 
DOUBLES
Flight 1
SF – Graver/Russo (AU) def. Ramirez/Stanescu (GSU), 8-5
Final – Graver/Russo (AU) def. #31 Bortles/De Jong (OM), 8-5
 
DOUBLES
Flight 2
C-SF – Muminovic/Chivu (GSU) def. Bowen/Song (AU), 8-2
C-SF – Griffin/Turner (AU) def. Motosono/Rico-Garcia (OU), 8-5
C-Final – Mumunovic/Chivu (GSU) def. Griffin/Turner (AU), 8-7 (4)
C-7th Place – Bowen/Song (AU) def. Motosono/Rico-Garcia (OU), 8-7 (5)
 
SINGLES
Flight 1
SF – Malkia Ngounoue (KU) def. Sophia Graver (AU), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
 
Flight 2
SF – Plobrung Plipuech (KU) def. Taylor Russo (AU), 6-1, 6-3
 
Flight 3
SF – Ulyana Shirokova (MIA) def. Caroline Turner (AU), 6-0, 6-2
 
Flight 4
SF – Yuna Ito (MIA) def. Lindsay Song (AU), 6-3, 6-1
C-SF – Lara Vovk (GSU) def. Annabella Bowen (AU), 6-2, 6-1