ATLANTA, Ga. – Winthrop women's tennis made history Friday, earning its first-ever victory in the NCAA Tournament with a 4-3 win over No. 20 Auburn in the first round.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
-Winthrop lost the doubles point for just the fifth time all season as Auburn took a 6-2 win at No. 2 and a 6-3 win at No. 3. Court one would go unfinished with No. 23 Megan Kauffman and Lauren Proctor leading 5-4.

-In singles play the Eagles got off to a strong start with No. 37 Lauren Proctor leading the way. Proctor got Winthrop on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set victory, her 21^st of the season, over No. 98 Alizee Michaud.

-Alisa Soloveva earned her 20^th victory of the season with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 56 Jaeda Daniel at court two to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

-Auburn would pull ahead 3-2 with wins on courts three and four. Winthrop's Megan Kauffman battled back from down 2-5 in the second set to down 4-5, but the match point was decided on a deuce point.

-On court six, Ellie Burns evened the team score at 3-3 with a 6-2, 6-2 straight-set win, sending all eyes to court five for the match decision.

-Kelic fell in the first set, 2-5, but turned it around in the second set, going up 5-4 as Burns was winning at No. 6. With momentum swinging to the Eagles, Kelic won the second set 6-4 to force a deciding third set.

-The third set got off to a back-and-forth start, until Kelic was able to go up 4-3 on a break, then 5-3 on serve. Auburn's Taylor Russo battled back to tie the set again at 5-5, but Kelic went up another crucial break to take a 6-5 lead, then held serve for the 7-5 victory and the historic team match win.

NOTABLES
-Winthrop has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 16 times in program history, with today's victory marking the first in program history.

-The win was the first over a nationally ranked team this season. The Eagles are 1-2 against Top 25 teams this season.

-Winthrop improves to 20-5 overall on the season.

-With the match going unfinished, No. 23 doubles duo Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman remained undefeated at 22-0 on the season and were leading at 5-4 at the conclusion of doubles play.

-Ellie Burns has won nine of her last 10 matches, all but one in straight sets, and has won seven consecutive matches.

-Soloveva's singles win improved her 2018 record vs. ranked players to 2-1 on the season. Proctor is also 2-1 against nationally ranked players.
 

UP NEXT – NCAA TOURNAMENT SECOND ROUND
Winthrop will take on host No. 4 Georgia Tech on Sat., May 12 at 1 p.m. as the Yellow Jackets won in the second first round match of the day, a 4-0 victory over Eastern Kentucky.

FULL RESULTS  

Singles
1. #37 PROCTOR, Lauren (WIN) def. #98 Alizee Michaud (AUBURN) 6-3, 6-2
2. SOLOVEVA, Alisa (WIN) def. #56 Jaeda Daniel (AUBURN) 6-3, 6-2
3. Andie Dikosavljevic (AUBURN) def. KAUFFMAN, Megan (WIN) 6-3, 6-4
4. Madeline Meredith (AUBURN) def. VAN ECK, Tayla (WIN) 6-3, 6-3
5. KELIC, Aida (WIN) def. Taylor Russo (AUBURN) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
6. BURNS, Ellie (WIN) def. Georgie Axon (AUBURN) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. Alizee Michaud/Jaeda Daniel (AUBURN) vs. #23 PROCTOR, Lauren/KAUFFMAN, Megan (WIN) 4-5, unfinished
2. Taylor Russo/Madeline Meredith (AUBURN) def. SOLOVEVA, Alisa/VAN ECK, Tayla (WIN) 6-2
3. Georgie Axon/Caroline Turner (AUBURN) def. KELIC, Aida/BURNS, Ellie (WIN) 6-3