Auburn women’s tennis draws a No. 1 national seed at the ITA national indoor championship. Here's the full bracket and how to watch
The undefeated Tigers kick off their run for a ring Friday afternoon with the advantage of playing a host team.
Auburn’s first championship chase of the season begins this afternoon.
The Tigers have drawn a No. 1 overall seed at the ITA national indoors championship tournament, and hold the advantage of playing site host Northwestern in the opening round set for 3:30 p.m.
Matches at the tournament are scheduled to be streamed live online with coverage that includes a broadcast-style stream on the Cracked Racquets YouTube channel. Individual court streams will be here.
No. 1-seed Auburn vs. No. 8-seed Northwestern
3:30 p.m. Friday │ Livestream
Auburn stands four wins away from a championship ring, having made it to Illinois as one of the 16 teams left standing in the field after ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The Tigers are playing on the half of the draw hosted by Northwestern, opposite the other half hosted by Illinois. The survivors of the first two rounds over the first two rounds will converge at Northwestern to play out the championship on Monday and Tuesday.
The Tigers expect fast play on indoor courts, and an opportunity to flex their muscle against some of the best teams in the country. Auburn enters riding a 5-0 win at No. 13 Michigan earlier in the road trip, which saw DJ Bennett plant a flag with a statement-making win over the nation’s No. 3 player in the individual rankings, and saw Angella Okutoyi pick up wins on both the singles and doubles courts — on a road trip that allowed the Nairobi, Kenya, native to see snow for the first time.
Winning indoor nationals is a banner-hanging, ring-ordering event, and a major landmark on the college tennis season on the way to the outdoor NCAA Championship tournament at season’s end. All 10 teams in the current top-10 rankings are in the state of Illinois for indoor nationals.
Auburn, though, has the distinct early advantage of in the first round playing unranked Northwestern, which automatically made the field as one of the tournament’s hosts.
If Auburn wins, the Tigers will then cross Saturday with the winner of Oklahoma State, ranked No. 8 nationally, or NC State, ranked No. 9 nationally. Auburn was originally meant to play a regular-season dual with Oklahoma State on Jan. 30 in Stillwater, but Oklahoma State forfeited the match ostensibly because of the possibility that the teams could meet at indoor nationals.
From head coach Jordan Szabo
“It’s going to be about preparing ourselves to be familiar with the conditions, feeling good to play matches and getting our minds and bodies ready to compete,” Szabo said in a release from the university. “We’re very excited about the opportunities we have. I feel like we’re in a really good spot, and we’re excited to go play the host team.”
ITA INDOOR NATIONALS FIRST ROUND
Game 1: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 8 Illinois
Game 2: No. 4 Duke vs. No. 5 Ohio State
Game 3: No. 3 Texas A&M def. No. 6 Vanderbilt (4-2)
Game 4: No. 7 Texas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma
Game 5: No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 8 Northwestern
Game 6: No. 4 Oklahoma State vs. No. 5 NC State
Game 7: No. 3 LSU def. No. 6 Tennessee (4-0)
Game 8: No. 2 Georgia def. No. 7 Virginia (4-1)
QUARTERFINALS
Game 9: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Game 10: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. Winner of Game 4
Game 11: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6
Game 12: No. 3 LSU vs. No. 2 Georgia
SEMIFINALS
Game 13: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10
Game 14: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12
CHAMPIONSHIP
Game 15: Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 14