The No. 13 Tigers finished non-conference play on Sunday, taking down Tulane 5-2.
After losing its first two matches of the season in Wisconsin the previous weekend, Auburn was hoping to get off to a fast start against Tulane. However, the Green Wave forced a fight for the opening point.
After splitting courts three and one, the attention of both teams were drawn to the middle court, as Georgie Axon and Adeline Flach were attempting to come back from a 0-4 start. In the end, they took a 7-5 victory over Tulane's Mackenzie Clark and Kristen Borland, and securing the opening point.
In singles, Yu Chen continued to impress, this time on the fifth court. She grabbed the first singles point with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Charlotte Russell. She is now 8-2 on the season.
Again, however, the Tigers faced some trouble, as Flach fell on court three, 2-6, 4-6. Head coach Caroline Lilley commended Tulane for their performance on the day.
"Tulane played hungry and with a lot of grit today," Lilley said. "Credit to them as they sustained a competitive fire we had a hard time matching."
Auburn was able to battle back, however, as Madeline Meredith took the bottom court 6-2, 6-3, and Georgie Axon secured the match with a 6-4, 6-1 win on court four.
The matches were played to completion, as Ariana Arseneault completed a 6-4, 6-4 win on the top court. Tulane's Mackenzie Clark was able to grab another point for the Green Wave over Carolyn Ansari, winning in a third set tiebreaker, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 12-10.
Coach Lilley is determined to improve on Sunday's performance for conference play.
"Setting a culture built on a standard of excellence takes consistency, accountability and reinforcement." Lilley said. "All three are controllable areas, and all three will be the focal point of our coming weeks. We will put in the hard work to be a different team come the first weekend in March."
The No. 13 Tigers will open SEC play on Mar. 4, as Vanderbilt will travel to the Yarbrough tennis center. That match is set for 3 p.m. CST.
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Dylan Fox, Junior in Civil Site Design Engineering, joined The Plainsman as a sports writer in Spring 2020. From Geneva, IL.
