SEC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS: Auburn continues dream season with another ring won, another banner to hang
Here's a look at how Auburn women's tennis got to Sunday, where the Tigers beat LSU to win the SEC Tournament championship. It's the first SEC Tournament title in the program's history.
Auburn’s entire team has been on the same page since before SEC play started:
“All we talk about is getting a ring,” Ava Esposito said, back in January. “That’s our goal. SECs, indoors, NCAAs — we want all of them. That’s what we talk about.”
Now they’ve got a ring for each hand.
The Tigers beat LSU on Sunday in the SEC Tournament final to win their second SEC championship this season, and to win the SEC Tournament title for the first time ever in program history.
Auburn beat LSU 4-3. Freshman Eva Ionescu was the hero for the Tigers, going to a winner-take-all third set with the match tied 3-3 and all other courts finished — and winning.
The championship win follows Auburn’s earning of a regular-season SEC championship, and might have been even sweeter: While Auburn named co-holder of the regular-season title alongside Oklahoma and Texas A&M having finished tied with the others at the top of the season’s standings, there was only one team left standing at the end of the SEC Tournament over the weekend in Oklahoma, and it was Auburn.
Auburn made Sunday’s tournament final by taking down sixth-seeded Florida in the quarterfinal round on Friday, then on Saturday picking up a dramatic — and meaningful — revenge win over fellow national title contender Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
Auburn held on to win that one 4-1. It was a top-three showdown, as Auburn entered the weekend No. 3 in the ITA national rankings, and Texas A&M, winners of the national championship in 2024, entered No. 2.