The Auburn women's tennis team plucked out an upset in the first round of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic to the tune of 4-3 over No. 11 Oklahoma State.
Auburn trailed 1-0 early after dropping its first doubles point of the season, with the No. 36 duo of Pleun Burgmans and Paula de Man falling 6-4 to No. 29 Kelsey Laurente and Maria Alvarez. Alizee Michaud and Reka Muller fell 6-4 to No. 33 Carla Tur Mari and Viktoriya Lushkova on court two.
"Even after losing the doubles point we went out there and fought for every point and stayed confident that if we just dug in we could win this match," said Auburn coach Lauren Spencer. "Oklahoma State is a very talented team and we had to bring our best tennis to beat them."
Michaud remained undefeated in the dual match season with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 47 Lushkova to begin a comeback for the Tigers in singles.
Falling behind 3-1, Auburn found victory in the third set, with De Man winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 over Katarina Stresnakova. Burgmans followed with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory and No. 32 Andie Dikosavljevic clinched the match for the Tigers 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 against No. 33 Katarina Adamovic.
"I am so proud of the fight this team gave today," Spencer said. "We told them beforehand that this was an amazing opportunity to show what were are made of and they did just that."
Auburn will continue play tomorrow at 10 a.m. against Pepperdine at Lagoon Park Tennis Center in Montgomery, Alabama.
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