AUBURN, Ala. – The 34th-ranked Auburn women's tennis team will open Southeastern Conference play this weekend with a road swing to Texas A&M and LSU.
Auburn will face No. 24 Texas A&M at 5 p.m. Friday in College Station, Texas, then travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on No. 12 LSU at noon Sunday.
"Texas A&M and LSU are both currently ranked above us, so it presents a really good opportunity to get some ranked wins," Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer said. "Everyone in the SEC is good, so we have to be prepared for all of them. Both matches are going to be really difficult, and we expect a challenge. Road wins are hard to come by. Both teams are very talented, both teams are very deep, and we're going to have to be ready to fight."
The Tigers (13-2) finished off a successful month of February with a 2-1 weekend at the Blue-Gray Classic last week in Montgomery. Auburn fell in its first match to eventual tournament winner and 13th-ranked Oklahoma State before bouncing back with wins over Fresno State and No. 43 Alabama.
"I thought the weekend was very productive," Spencer said. "Playing the No. 1 seed in the first round was challenging for us, but other than a couple of key spots here and there, I thought we played really well. I was really impressed with our doubles the entire tournament. Even when we were down and faced with adversity, we came back."
Auburn's doubles play continues to be a strength as the Tigers won the doubles point in all three matches last weekend and have done so in 13 of 15 matches so far. Overall in spring dual match play, Auburn has posted a 30-8 mark in doubles, led by the No. 43-ranked team of junior Taylor Russo and freshman Sophia Graver, who own a 10-2 record in dual play and a 17-5 overall mark this season. The team of sophomores Jaeda Daniel and Madeline Meredith, playing mostly at the No. 2 spot, is 10-1 in dual matches this year.
Daniel enters conference play ranked No. 75 nationally in singles; she is 7-3 at the No. 1 singles spot so far this spring. Meredith has been solid at the No. 2 position as well with a 6-1 mark there and an 8-2 record overall in spring competition, and Russo owns a 7-3 record in dual play with the majority of her matches coming at the No. 4 spot.
Texas A&M is 12-1 overall on the year and defeated SMU 7-0 on Wednesday in their last match. LSU enters the weekend at 10-2 overall; the Tigers defeated South Alabama and Jackson State in a doubleheader last weekend.
Live scoring and video for Friday's match is available at 12thMan.com, and Sunday's match can be followed at LSUSports.net. Fans can follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter for updates from both matches.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.