Auburn women’s tennis ‘relentless’ in 4-0 win over Miami in NCAA Tournament
Looking to advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament, the 2-seeded Auburn Tigers did not fiddle with an excellent Miami squad on Saturday, dominating the Hurricanes 4-0 to enhance to 34-3 on the season and transfer to the second weekend. Playing in entrance of an enormous crowd on the Yarbrough Tennis Center, coach Jordan Szabo’s staff gained the doubles level and by no means regarded again in dispatching Miami in brief order on a gorgeous day on the Plains.
“Amazing atmosphere,” Szabo stated following the win. “The Auburn family really showed up and made a really big difference for us, especially in the doubles. I think that was our best doubles point of the year. Miami is a really good team. They are under-ranked. They had North Carolina on the ropes and lost 4-3. North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country.
“That was a extremely powerful draw we got, however we went out and performed one of the best doubles level of the yr. Everyone was taking part in aggressive and going after their photographs. Winning 5 first units was a extremely good factor. Just a formidable day.”
Looking to jump on top early, the Tigers dominated in doubles. DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito won No. 1 doubles 6-1 and the duo of Ashton Bowers and Ekaterina Khairutdinova won their match 6-1 and the Tigers were off and running. Playing two doubles, Angelina Okutoyi and her partner Merna Refaat were up 5-2 when the Tigers clinched the point.
One of the top players in college tennis, Okutoyi said the doubles start was great for Auburn as they looked to take that momentum into singles.
“I really feel like setting the tone with the doubles level is basically necessary since you begin with the lead and solely have three extra matches to win,” the senior said. “I really feel like us profitable the doubles level gave us an ease and in addition the arrogance that we are able to exit in singles and be aggressive and struggle for each level. I really feel like that actually helped us.”
Auburn took that momentum into singles where the Tigers won the first set in five of the six matches. It didn’t take long for Bowers to wrap things up on court number one to secure the second point for Auburn. Okutoyi handled business on court two in straight sets to put the Tigers one win away from securing the match.
Locked in a battle in the second set, Khairutdinova won the final two games of her match to beat Miami’s Sofia Rochetti 6-3, 6-4 to give Auburn the victory and move the Tigers to the second weekend where they will face the winner of Duke-Tennessee in the next round at home.
“I feel we’ve a mature staff,” Szabo said. “I feel we’ve a staff that has realized plenty of classes this yr. Whoever we play goes to be good from right here on out. Miami was a extremely good staff. We must have a extremely good week to organize and that is what we have carried out all yr.
“I think you play better when you’re excited and hungry to compete,” he added. “I’m not building it up too much or making it a bigger deal than it needs to be, but I think we play better when we’ve got that streetfighter mentality and got an edge to us. I thought we were pretty relentless today.”