The Auburn women's tennis team completed their first successful business trip of the 2015-2016 season Sunday, returning home from Miami, Florida with a combined 20 wins at the Miami Fall Invitational. The Tigers now look forward to a strong fall schedule, with four competing in the Riveria/ITA Women's All-American in Pacific Palisades, California.
"(Four) a good number for us. We have three girls in singles and four girls in doubles so we're really excited to have that number," said head coach Lauren Longbotham Meisner. "To have that opportunity for them to play on a national level with that amount of people, that's always a really exciting time."
Auburn will be represented by Pleun Burgmans in the qualifying singles, who will also pair with senior Paula de Man in the qualifying doubles. Sophomores Alizee Micahaud and Andie Dikosavljevic will both compete in pre-qualifying singles.
The Tigers will host the ITA Regional Championships Oct. 15, giving the team a home court advantage. The last time Auburn hosted the regionals, the girls swept the tournament.
Following regionals, reigning national champions Vanderbilt will host a fall tournament. The Tigers will then return home once again to host their own fall invitational. "We think is really good competition, getting to see different people around the country, and it gives the girls a really good opportunity to get nationally ranked which will help our team rankings," said Meisner. "We have the schedule to make us want to be top 25/top 16 and we're really excited about it."
Auburn only lost two of their starting six and added five new girls to the program. Meisner said they were hoping to add another in the spring, so the competition among the girls is tough right now. Top returner Burgmans is a two-time All-American from Bergeijk, Netherlands whose found a spot on the All-SEC team three years running.
"It's a tough, tough competition within the team right now. We've got several freshman that are fighting to get in the lineup too and I feel very confident about this team," said Meisner. "I think we're very strong and we have a lot of depth as long as everybody stays healthy."
The Tigers stepped up to face tough conditions in Miami and battled through the heat and humidity to successfully open the season. The team battled through heat, humidity and tough competition to set the bar high for themselves to progress throughout the season. "I thought overall the team did really well it was tough, tough competition and I was happy at our starting point," said Meisner. "Coming back with second, third consolation, it's a good start. If they compete the way they did in Miami and continue to do that then we're going to have some big time success this fall that will translate into the spring."
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