University of Tennessee
#34 Florida
Women’s Tennis Central: #6 Tennessee vs. #34 Florida and #9 Auburn
April 03, 2025 | Women's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The sixth-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team is set to welcome No. 34 Florida and No. 9 Auburn to Rocky Top this weekend. The Lady Vols will face the Gators at 5 p.m. on Friday, before playing the Tigers at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Last weekend, Tennessee split its matches, defeating No. 15 Texas, 4-2, before falling to No. 2 Texas A&M, 4-1. In the victory against the Longhorns, freshman Saray Yli-Piipari recorded her first collegiate clinch with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 triumph against Salma Drugdova.
The No. 44-ranked duo of Catherine Aulia and Leyla Britez Risso are on a roll, securing a six-match winning streak. This past weekend, the tandem defeated Texas's Salma Drugdova and Char Kempenaera in a 6-1 decision, before etching a 6-3 win against Texas A&M's Mia Kupres and Daria Smetannikov.
Tennessee has knocked off 11 ranked opponents thus far, defeating No. 15 Ohio State, No. 15 Pepperdine, No.4 Stanford, No. 67 Kentucky, No. 71 Ole Miss, No. 25 South Carolina, No. 70 Arkansas, No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 25 Alabama, No. 64 Mississippi State and No. 15 Texas. Six of those results are against top-25 foes, including five over top-15 teams.
Live stats for both matches can be found here and a live stream can be found here.
SENIOR DAY: Lone senior Elza Tomase will be honored on court one prior to the start of the match against Auburn on Sunday. Tomase is an ITA Doubles All-American, a three-time All-SEC recipient and currently claims the 11th most singles wins in Lady Vol history with 92. Join us as we celebrate Tomase's ongoing contributions to Tennessee.
A PEEK AT THE CHARTS: The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced on March 25 that the squad is No. 6 in the ninth poll of 2025. The No. 6 ranking is the highest of the Alison Ojeda era. The following members of the team were ranked in the third spring ITA individual poll posted on April 1, 2025:
Singles
No. 7 Elza Tomase
No. 34 Catherine Aulia
No. 69 Leyla Britez Risso
Doubles
No. 38 Catherine Aulia & Leyla Britez Risso
No. 50 Elza Tomase & Maeve Thornton
No. 52 Elza Tomase & Elim Yan
No. 54 Elza Tomase & Catherine Aulia
No. 74 Vanesa Suarez & Maeve Thornton
Florida:
Singles
No. 21 Rachel Gailis
No. 75 Alicia Dudeney
Doubles
No. 13 Rachel Gailis & Alicia Dudeney
No. 45 Alicia Dudeney & Bente Spee
Auburn:
Singles
No. 3 DJ Bennett
No. 48 Mema Refaat
No. 74 Angella Okutoyi
No. 86 Ava Hrastar
Doubles
No. 21 DJ Bennett & Ava Hrastar
SCOUTING THE GATORS: Florida leads the all-time series against the Lady Vols, 48-2. Both of Tennessee's wins have come in Knoxville. The last time the two teams met was in Gainesville, Fla., on March 10, 2024, when Florida posted a 5-2 victory. The Gators own an 8-9 overall record and a 4-7 conference mark so far in 2025.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Tennessee possesses a 39-12 edge over the Tigers, with 18 of those victories coming in Knoxville. The two teams most recently met last season in the SEC Tournament when the Lady Vols posted a 4-3 triumph on April 19, 2024, in Athens, Ga. Auburn has an 18-5 overall ledger and a 7-4 conference record on the year.
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Players Mentioned
