Three Auburn players — all fighting three different battles — key for the Tigers in bounce-back top-10 win over Texas
After a disappointing loss in the battle for first place against Texas A&M, Auburn women's tennis recovered quick with a win at No. 6 Texas on Saturday.
It didn’t take long for Auburn to re-right the ship after Thursday’s disappointing loss at Texas A&M.
The Tigers got it done before they were even out of the state.
And the match itself didn’t even take long, as No. 4 Auburn bounced back with a sweep on No. 6 Texas on Saturday to salvage a split on the road trip. Auburn took the doubles point then won three singles matches in straight sets to clinch it.
Katya Khairutdinova, Ashton Bowers and Ava Esposito all won in singles at Texas, earning meaningful wins all for different reasons:
Bowers, in her first season with the Tigers out of the transfer portal, beat her former team;
Khairutdinova finally picked up a win against a top team;
and Esposito won convincingly in her return to the starting lineup.
To rewind: Auburn on Thursday lost to No. 2 Texas A&M in what was a battle for sole possession of first place in the SEC standings with only four matches to play.
It was a major blow to Auburn’s chances at winning the SEC’s regular-season championship — and it’ll prove to be the fatal blow if A&M wins out.
But there are still most of the marbles left to play for with the SEC Tournament to come and the NCAA Tournament to follow, and to that end, Auburn managed to shake off that loss with flying colors.
Here’s how it happened, with a specific spotlight on the storylines surrounding Bowers, Khairutdinova and Esposito: