AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 36 Auburn women's tennis team faces two strong opponents this weekend as the Tigers open the home portion of the Southeastern Conference schedule at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Auburn will host No. 5 Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. CT Friday before playing host to No. 18 Kentucky at 11 a.m. CT Sunday. Admission is free to all Auburn home tennis matches. Following Sunday's match, Auburn will host a free kids' clinic.
"It's good to be at home," Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer said. "Vanderbilt's a top-10 team, and we've already played Kentucky. Everyone (in the SEC) is good.
"Vanderbilt is obviously a very seasoned team, led by some upperclassmen that have done a very good job. It's also an opportunity because we're seen as the underdog in this match, but we do well as the underdog.
"Where we were a month ago (the first time we played Kentucky) is drastically different from where we are today. They are a very aggressive team, so we are going to have to weather the storm. We're going to have to wear them down. Seeing them early in the season, it's not going to be a surprise for us."
The Tigers (13-4, 0-2 SEC) are coming off a tough road trip to open league play, falling at No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 12 LSU on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Auburn claimed the doubles point at Texas A&M but fell short in several tight singles matches. At LSU, Auburn got a singles win from freshman Sophia Graver but was unable to close out any other victories.
"It was a tough road trip," Auburn coach Lauren Spencer said. "Both places are really tough to play. At A&M, I thought we played exceptionally good doubles. I was really proud of that. Unfortunately at LSU, that wasn't our best doubles day. But in singles, on five out of the six courts, we were in very close matches. We stayed in points longer, and we put ourselves in positions to win. It was a really tough battle where the home team made some shots at the end to win."
Graver and junior Taylor Russo moved up to No. 22 in the latest ITA doubles rankings, and they were joined for the first time this season by sophomores Jaeda Daniel and Madeline Meredith, who entered the rankings at No. 64. Daniel also moved up several spots in the singles rankings to No. 72.
Vanderbilt (7-3, 2-0) earned two wins to open league play last week, defeating Missouri 7-0 and Arkansas 6-1. Kentucky (12-1, 2-0) also downed the same two opponents, beating Arkansas 5-1 and Missouri 4-1. This will be Auburn's second match with the Wildcats this season; Kentucky claimed a 4-0 win on Jan. 26 in Atlanta in the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Live video (if the matches are played outdoors) and live stats will be available at AuburnTigers.com. Visit the women's tennis schedule page for links to both.
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