The Auburn Women's Tennis team and No. 46 nationally-ranked singles player senior Fani Chifchieva return to SEC action this weekend, matching up against the University of Kentucky at home tomorrow before traveling to Vanderbilt Sunday. "I think the team is in a very good position and we are motivated after beating South Carolina before spring break," Chifchieva said. Auburn defeated then No. 20 University of South Carolina 4-3 March 14. Senior Myrthe Molenveld secured the victory for the Tigers, defeating No. 111 Anya Morgina at the No. 3 position, 6-3, 7-6.
"I was up 6-3 and 5-2 and the girl came back and I was 6-5 down in the second set," Molenveld said. "I was just so focused on winning because I hadn't won an SEC match. I just kept fighting and fighting and the whole team was cheering me on. It was great to beat the No. 20 team in the nation." Coach Tim Gray said the match was a product of hard, but also smart, work. "I think our result has shown that, a 4-3 loss to No. 12 Georgia and we had some chances," Gray said. "And then we turn around and beat No. 20 South Carolina a week later. I think we're starting to hit our stride. We just have to keep working hard."
During the break, the Tigers competed in a SEC/ Big Ten/ Big 12 fling in Orlando, Fla. Auburn faced off against No. 30 Indiana and No. 56 Oklahoma State in three days of singles and doubles matches. The matches were scored based on a scoring system designed collectively by the three coaches. Under the system, each team named one winner. For the Tigers, it was Chifchieva. "We had a very good break," Chifchieva said. "We played some matches in Orlando against two teams. We were very focused on working on the things we had to work on to come up with a good energy. We're very comfortable coming into this week's matches."
Auburn now returns to face the familiar foes of the SEC and start the conference homestretch, culminating with the SEC Championships beginning April 22 in Athens, Ga. Chifchieva said Auburn had a good match against Kentucky last year. "We won against Kentucky like 6-1, very solid win, very good matches," Chifchieva said. "We had bad luck against Vanderbilt, but we still played good tennis." Gray said he was excited by the opportunities presented by the two upcoming SEC matches and feels his Tigers have been making forward progress as of late.
Though Auburn is led by seniors Chifchieva, Molenveld and Jil Hastenrath, it is still an overall young team. "A little bit younger in some spots and the kids higher up in the lineup this year were lower in the lineup last year so even though they have experience, they're not as experienced up in the higher positions," Gray said. "I think a lot of schools were looking for us to have a down year, but we didn't feel that way." The match tomorrow begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
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