AUBURN, Ala. No. 13 Auburn will take part in ITA Kickoff Weekend on Friday and Saturday at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on the campus of USC in Los Angeles. The Tigers will face San Diego on Friday at noon CT before playing either No. 11 USC or Penn on Saturday. If Auburn wins both matches, it will qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for the fourth consecutive season.
Our girls are in really good spirits, theyre heathy, theyre playing well and they believe in themselves, said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. Theyre on a mission out here and we believe were the best team in this region, but we have to go out there and make it happen. USC has had a good win already over Texas last weekend so theyre confident and San Diego had a good weekend so they are feeling good about themselves as well. Were going to go out and prepare and put ourselves in as good a position as possible to be successful this weekend and qualify for ITA National Indoors, which is a big goal of ours.
Auburn will face San Diego at noon CT before host USC plays Penn at 4 p.m. CT. San Diego is 1-1 this season with a win over UC Santa Barbara and a loss to No. 22 LSU. The Tigers and the Toreros faced off in 2023 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship where Auburn won 4-3.
San Diego is a good team and its a historically strong womens tennis program, Szabo said about the Toreros. I definitely think that were the favorite based on our lineup, but thats why we play the matches. We have to go out and lay it on the line. Theyre very strong at No. 1 and No. 2 like we are, but I think were a bit deeper so the doubles point is going to be important. If we get the doubles point well be in a really good spot to capitalize on that match.
On Saturday, the winners of the two matches will play for a bid to the 2025 ITA National Team Indoor Championship at 4pm CT while the two losers will face each other in a consolation match at noon CT. Auburn has had a lot of success at ITA Kickoff Weekend in recent history, as the Tigers won both matches at their respective site in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Auburn will enter the weekend with a 5-0 record after recording five home wins to begin Szabos coaching era. Auburn junior Angella Okutoyi started her spring season strong, recording three straight set victories for the Tigers in the to half of the singles lineup to help the team stay undefeated over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The three wins improved Okutoyis overall singles record to 8-2 this season. She and doubles partner Merna Refaat also recorded a dominant 6-1 doubles win to help Auburn clinch the doubles point against Western Carolina on Monday.
Live video and live scoring of both matches will be available online at usctrojans.com.
