No. 11 Auburn women’s tennis clinched its spot in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season with a win over No. 37 Florida State on Saturday at Yarbrough Tennis Center. The Tigers will face off against No. 7 Texas Tech on Friday, May 19 in a rematch of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Championship.
“This was a great college tennis match,” Auburn head coach Lauren Spencer said. “I can’t say enough about how hard our girls fought today. We trailed early after dropping the first set in four of six sets and we just kept fighting. We appreciate the fan support today and we hope we can get that kind of support in Athens next weekend.”
Auburn fell in a hole early, dropping the doubles point with loses on courts one and three. Andie Dikosavljevic and Alannah Griffin were the lone winners in doubles, defeating Nandini Das and Ariana Rahmanparast, 6-4 on court two.
In singles, FSU took the early momentum, winning four of six first sets. Junior Andie Dikosavljevic put the Tigers on the board with her second-straight singles win, defeating the Seminoles’ Das, 6-1, 6-2. Dikosavljevic has 20 wins on the season and 65 for her career.
With FSU leading 2-1, freshman Taylor Russo won in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 over senior Daniela Schippers on court three. The Florida native is third on the team with 24 wins this season.
A sophomore, Griffin gave the Tigers their first lead of the match in a thriller on court five, defeating Schippers of FSU, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 for her sixth-straight singles victory.
After taking the first set, freshman Georgie Axon battled back from trailing 5-2 in the second set to clinch the match with a 7-5, 7-5 victory on court four. The England native improved to 26-10 on the season and moves into a tie for 11th all-time at Auburn in single season wins.
The Tigers are set to face Texas Tech on Friday, May 19 in Athens, Georgia, on the University of Georgia’s campus. The match is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. CT.
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