AUBURN, Ala. – The 20th-ranked Auburn women's tennis team closes out its regular-season home slate with a pair of top-20 matchups as No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 14 LSU visit the Yarbrough Tennis Center this weekend.
Auburn will take on Texas A&M at 3 p.m. CT Thursday, then host LSU at noon CT Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to be played outdoors, fans are welcome to attend, and admission is free. All spectators in attendance must wear a face covering at all times and practice appropriate social distancing in the seating area.
"Definitely two great teams," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "Both teams have very solid doubles and one through six singles are very strong. We'll be pushed at every single position. At the same time, I believe we have a team that can compete very well with both of these teams, and I expect battles. I anticipate some really challenging matches, but some exciting matches for the fans and for the players as well."
Following Saturday's home finale, Taylor Russo and Lindsay Song will be recognized as part of Senior Day.
The Tigers (12-3, 7-2 SEC) are coming off a pair of road wins last week, a 4-2 victory at No. 22 Arkansas and a 4-1 win at Missouri. In the Arkansas win, Auburn fought through three first-set tiebreakers in singles – winning all three – and building on the momentum to fight back for the win after dropping the doubles point. At Missouri, strong play throughout the lineup propelled the Tigers to their third straight SEC road win.
"Road wins are hard-fought wins, regardless of where they are," Lilley said. "Conditions, especially on Sunday, it was really cold and windy, so I was proud of the way the team responded to that. We're really grateful for the opportunity to be competing, and competing at the level we are is really great to see."
Auburn is 20th in the latest ITA national rankings with sophomore Selin Ovunc at No. 62 and junior Yu Chen at No. 100 in singles.
Texas A&M (12-4, 4-2 SEC) won its lone match last week, defeating LSU 4-0 at home. The Aggies also have wins over Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State in league play. A&M has one ranked player in singles – No. 22 Tatiana Makarova – and two ranked doubles teams – No. 43 Makarova and Jayci Goldsmith, and No. 70 Makarova and Jessica Anzo.
LSU (10-4, 5-4) fell to A&M in their last outing, but has league wins over Tennessee, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky to their credit this season. The Tigers boast three ranked singles players in No. 40 Paris Corley, No. 50 Taylor Bridges and No. 84 Safiya Carrington. LSU also has two ranked doubles teams, No. 72 Eden Richardson and Nina Geissler, and No. 73 Bridges and Corley.
Live video and live stats for both matches will be available via AuburnTigers.com.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
No. 20 women's tennis closes out home slate with Texas A&M, LSU
