Tigers set to begin NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships

WACO, Texas – Three singles players and one doubles team will represent Auburn at the 2024-25 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships beginning on Tuesday at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas. DJ Bennett, Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat will be competing for a singles national championship beginning on Tuesday while Bennett and Ava Hrastar will be making a run at the doubles title starting on Wednesday.

The singles championship features a 64-player field with one round being played each day with the championship taking place on Sunday. Bennett and Hrastar will be one of 32 doubles teams playing for the NCAA Doubles Championship title. One round will be played each day beginning on Wednesday with the championship match on Sunday. Both events will be played in a single elimination format.

Bennett, who was ranked No. 32 the ITA preseason singles rankings, claimed a spot in the singles field after reaching the quarterfinals of at the ITA All-American Championships in September. That run featured a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 9 Nicole Khirin of Texas A&M, the highest ranked win of her college career. This week will mark the junior’s second straight appearance in both the singles and doubles championship.

Bennett’s partner, Hrastar, is no stranger to the NCAA Doubles Championship. She will be making her third appearance in the event on Wednesday after making the field twice at Georgia Tech in 2021 and 2022. In 2022, Hrastar became an ITA Doubles All-American by reaching the quarterfinals of the event. This season, Hrastar and Bennett punched their ticket to the championship by winning the ITA Southern Regional doubles title in October.

Junior Angella Okutoyi will be participating in the NCAA Singles Championship for the first time in her career on Tuesday. She earned a bid to the championship after reaching the finals of the ITA Southern Regional Championship in October. Okutoyi, who is ranked No. 82 in singles by the ITA, is 5-1 in singles this fall and holds a 32-18 overall singles record at Auburn.

Freshman Merna Refaat has had no issues making the transition to college tennis, as she went a perfect 6-0 in her only collegiate event this fall. In her first fall on the Plains, Refaat won the ITA Southern Regional singles crown. Reaching the finals of that event earned her a spot in the NCAA Singles Championship.

Bennett and Refaat will be the first Tigers on the court Tuesday, as Bennett faces Purdue’s Carmen Gallardo Guevara and Refaat battles Oklahoma State’s Gracie Epps at 9 a.m. CT. Okutoyi will then play No. 102 Mao Mushika of Cal at 3 p.m. CT. Bennett and Hrastar’s first round doubles matchup against Appalachian State’s Isabella Romanichen and Savannah Dada-Mascoll on Tuesday has not yet been scheduled.

Television coverage of the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship will be available on ESPN+. Live scoring for each match will also be available online at ioncourt.com.