‘HUGE’ TOP-FIVE WIN: Insights and highlights from No. 1 Auburn’s road victory at No. 5 LSU
Auburn fought back from early deficits on the singles courts to pick up one of its best wins in program history. Here's how it happened.
Angella Okutoyi charged back from down a set to win a three-setter, the doubles teams came up big once again, and the top-ranked Auburn women’s team picked up a top-five victory on the road Saturday at No. 5 LSU.
It was Okutoyi’s victory on Court 3 that sealed what has to be one of the biggest regular-season team wins in program history. In either major ranking system, Saturday’s matchup was a top-five showdown: Auburn is ranked No. 1 in the UTR rankings with LSU ranked No. 5, and in the ITA rankings LSU is ranked No. 4 while Auburn is ranked No. 5.
“How about those Auburn Tigers?” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the win.
The Tigers will surely be on the rise in those ITA rankings after another win to move to 21-1 on the season and 5-0 in SEC play.
Auburn’s outstanding doubles group won the doubles point yet again — for a perfect fifth time in five conference matches — but the Tigers found themselves in battles on the singles courts, dropping four first sets. DJ Bennett, Ekaterina Kharyutdinova, Angella Okutoyi and Ava Esposito all found themselves down a set.
Four lost singles matches would’ve meant a loss for the team — so someone had to flip the script.