AUBURN, Ala. – The 2022 regular season comes to a close this weekend as the 13th-ranked Auburn women's tennis team hosts a pair of SEC matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Auburn (18-4, 9-2 SEC) takes on two of the league's top teams, facing No. 26 Tennessee at 3 p.m. CT Friday, then closing out the regular season at noon Sunday vs. No. 10 Georgia. Admission is free to all home Auburn tennis matches.
Friday's match is Kids' Day with a face painter, sidewalk chalk and yard games for kids. On Sunday, the Kona Ice truck will be on site, along with Senior Day festivities following the match.
"We're excited to be home," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "We've played four really tough road matches. The end of our SEC season is preparing us better than anybody in the country for the NCAA Tournament. You can't think of a harder schedule to end your conference season. We're going to earn opportunities. Excited to be in front of our home crowd, we know it's going to be an environment we're going to enjoy."
The Tigers head into the season's final weekend in third place in the SEC standings with nine league wins. One more win would give Auburn its first-ever 10-win season in SEC play.
Last week, Auburn split a pair of road matches, dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker at South Carolina before bouncing back with a convincing 6-1 victory at No. 15 Florida, the Tigers' first-ever win over the Gators in Gainesville. With two wins over top-15 opponents, junior Selin Ovunc was named SEC Player of the Week.
"South Carolina and Florida, give them a lot of credit," Lilley said. "Difficult places to play. Disappointing a little bit on Friday in that we put ourselves in some really good positions but just didn't execute the way we're capable. We did the right things, but it came down to a point or two on three different matches and it ended up going the other way.
"(At Florida) they went in hungry with a vengeance, knowing they were better than how they performed Friday and excited for the opportunity to grow. I'm really proud of them. I'm proud of the match they played at South Carolina and the match they played at Florida. They certainly put together a great weekend for themselves."
Tennessee (12-7, 6-5) enters the weekend having won four of its last five. The Lady Vols are led by 30th-ranked Rebeka Mertena in singles and the No. 17-ranked doubles team of Daria Kuczer and Tenika McGiffin.
Georgia (15-3, 10-1) has suffered just one conference loss to league-leading Texas A&M and is unbeaten in true road matches this year. The Bulldogs are led by 25th-ranked Lea Ma in singles and No. 15 Morgan Coppoc and Ania Hertel in doubles.
Auburn seniors Georgie Axon, Yu Chen and Madeline Meredith will be honored in a post-match ceremony following Sunday's match with the Bulldogs.
Live stats and live video (if played outdoors) will be available for both matches. Links can be found on the schedule page at AuburnTigers.com.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.