- Top-ranked Kenyan tennis star Angella Okutoyi made history in the United States after helping Auburn University secure its first-ever SEC Tournament title.
- Angella played a pivotal role, clinching wins in both the women’s doubles and singles matches at the 2026 SEC Women’s Tennis Championship held at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman.
Top-ranked Kenya tennis star Angella Okutoyi made history in the United States after helping her university, Auburn University, capture its first SEC tournament title at the 2026 SEC Women’s Tennis Championship held at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman.
Angella managed to help secure victories in both the women’s doubles and singles matches.
In singles, she staged a sensational comeback to reach the final stage, where they edged out No. 15 LSU in a tight 4-3 clash that was decided by a three-set win from freshman Eva Ionescu at the No. 6 singles spot.
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Angella Okutoyi makes history in States as she leads Auburn to first-ever SEC championship
At the No. 2 position the 22 year old, teamed up with Merna Refaat, and the pair grabbed an early 3-1 lead over LSU’s Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald. Leading 4-2, the Auburn duo claimed the next two games to seal the doubles point for Auburn.
That triumph came after Auburn rode all the momentum from the doubles point, with the tone established by Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bowers at the No. 3 position, who served a bagel against Carolina Kuhl and Addison Lanton to hand Auburn a swift victory.
Each team then kicked off singles with three opening-set wins, as Auburn’s Bennett, Okutoyi, and Ionescu pocketed their respective first sets. LSU leveled the match with a straight-set win at the No. 5 position.
Bennett grabbed an early 2-0 lead on the top singles court over Cadence Brace before going on to snag the set 6-3.
Bennett then rattled off three straight games to open the second set and dominated the remainder to win 6-3, 6-2, pushing Auburn to a 2-1 advantage.
LSU responded with a 7-5, 6-4 victory for Addison Lanton over Refaat at the No. 4 position to knot the match at 2-2.
At the No. 2 spot, Khairutdinova bounced back from an opening-set loss to LSU’s Kayla Cross by forcing a tiebreak in a back-and-forth second set, but Cross prevailed 7-5 in the tiebreak to hand LSU a 3-2 lead.
For the Kenya star Okutoyi, things did not start well. At the No. 3 position, McDonald raced to a 4-0 lead over Okutoyi to begin the first set, but the Auburn senior stormed back to win six straight games and grab the set 6-4.
Trailing 4-2 in the second set, Okutoyi fought back to level it 4-4 after a break on a deciding point.
After the set was forced into a tiebreak, Okutoyi pulled off a 7-4 win to claim the match and tie the team score at 3-3.
Speaking after the championship win, Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo was thrilled with Angella’s spirit to fight back even when she was down.
“Getting off the court after winning a quick doubles point was huge. We were in a battle, and they found a way to turn that match around. We weren’t able to flip any matches, which is a really tough spot to be in, but we got it done. Amazing performance from Angie (Okutoyi) to battle back in that first set after being down 0-4, and DJ (Bennett), who comfortably beat one of the best players in college tennis.”
Following Okutoyi’s victory, the match at the No. 6 position had just entered a decisive third set.
Ionescu took the first set 6–4 after leading 4–1. Graham responded by winning the second set in a tiebreak, 7–4, after both traded momentum.
In the final set, Graham again led early, but Ionescu fought back, saved match points under pressure, and dominated the deciding tiebreak to win 6–4, 6–7 (4), 7–6 (2), securing the title for Auburn.
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The win improves Auburn’s record to 32-3 this season, and the Tigers have also won each of their last six matchups.
Auburn and Angella Okutoyi will discover their seeding for the NCAA women’s tennis championship during the selection show, which is scheduled for April 27 at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Angella is defying all the odds, with this being her final year at the university level before turning pro, and she’s proving why she’s currently the highest-ranked Kenyan at No. 459 globally, having achieved a career-high rank of 414 this year after winning back-to-back singles and doubles titles at the ITF W35 Nairobi tournament.