Freshman comes up clutch to win championship, and more: Insights and highlights from Auburn's SEC Tournament victory
Here's a look at how Auburn freshman off the bench Eva Ionescu got it done for Auburn in the clutchest of circumstances, plus more highlights from the Tigers' SEC Tournament championship win.
Eva Ionescu did it.
She threw her hands in the air, reaching her racket to the sky — then dropping it when her swarming teammates closed in. LSU’s last shot in the marathon match had gone into the net, and so the Auburn women’s tennis team embraced and jumped for joy.
“These are memories she'll have for the rest of her life,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said.
It was Ionescu — a freshman off the bench — who got it done in winner-take-all circumstances, on Sunday in the SEC Tournament championship match. Auburn won the doubles point and its senior leaders earned two straight-set victories. LSU won three other singles points, all in straight sets. So it was tied 3-3 when Ionescu and her LSU opponent Kinaa Graham went to a third set, with all eyes on them, the championship riding on them, the only match left going.
It went all the way to a tiebreaker.
That’s where Ionescu made her mark in school history, winning the first SEC Tournament in the Auburn women’s tennis program’s history. Scratching her way to a 3-2 lead, she won a long, 23-hit rally to make it 4-2 as both players went to the chairs to change sides.
No. 3 Auburn at the SEC Tournament beat Florida and Texas A&M to get to the final, after the conference champions received a double bye into the quarterfinals on Friday. LSU played its way to the final all the way from the first round, seeded ninth and playing its fifth match in five days on Sunday. LSU is No. 15 nationally in its own right, and was a top-five team when Auburn went down to Baton Rouge to beat LSU during the regular season.
In that one, Ionescu didn’t play. Auburn’s usual Court 6 starter Ava Esposito played in that one, and lost to Graham in straight sets, even though Auburn came away with a 4-2 win. Esposito played doubles for Auburn against LSU and Auburn won the doubles point — but for singles, Ionescu came in, serving as fresh legs, and as a new opponent for Graham.
After the players switched sides, Ionescu was undeniable. At the end of another long rally, Ionescu broke Graham’s serve when the lefty’s forehand beat Graham’s backhand, which ultimately went wide.
That put Ionescu up 5-2. Next, a big serve by Ionescu found its target, making it 6-2: