BATON ROUGE – The No. 1-ranked Florida Gators expanded its winning streak to 51 matches by defeating the LSU women’s tennis team, 8-1, Sunday afternoon at the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
With the loss, LSU (12-9, 3-8 Southeastern Conference) ends the regular season in a ninth-place tie with Mississippi State, however, the Lady Tigers will be the 10th seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament due to a head-to-head loss against the Bulldogs.
The four-day tournament begins at 8 a.m. Thursday morning at the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium in Baton Rouge. LSU will play seventh-seeded Arkansas at 5 p.m. in the final match of the first round.
Florida, the defending national and SEC champion, improved to 24-0 overall and 11-0 in the SEC. It has not lost an SEC match in more than two seasons and will be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.
LSU’s Bruna Colosio scored the lone victory for the Lady Tigers on the day, however, LSU gave the nation’s best women’s tennis team all it could handle at the Nos. 3 and 4 singles positions. At No. 4, LSU’s Nikki Rasheed won the first set off M.C. White before White stormed back to take the match in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
In a match which lasted more than two and one-half hours, Florida’s Jessica Lehnhoff battled to beat Fernanda Tsucamoto, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 3 singles.
Colosio improved to 13-5 on the season, including 5-3 against ranked opponents, with a 7-5, 6-4, victory over 24th-ranked Stephanie Hazlett at the No. 2 singles position. Hazlett, a sophomore, entered the match with a 21-0 record in the spring and a 55-6 career record.
LSU improved to 19-2 this season at the position.
LSU fell in straight sets at the Nos. 1, 5 and 6 spots as 77th-ranked Ana Paula Mores was easily defeated by the nation’s seventh-ranked player, Florida’s Whitney Laiho, 6-2, 6-1.
At No. 5, Tami Botts was defeated by No. 32 Traci Green by the same score.
Mandy Rice played a solid match at No. 6 despite falling to 29th-ranked Baili Camino, 6-2, 6-2.
In doubles play, Florida’s 45th-ranked team of Green-White defeated LSU’s Botts-Tsucamoto, 8-0, before Kelly Craycraft and Rasheed fell to Camino-Stephanie Nickitas, 8-2.
At No. 1 doubles, LSU’s 49th-ranked team of Colosio-Mores was upended by the No. 34-ranked team of Hazlett-Laiho, 8-5.
LSU returns to action Thursday at 5 p.m. in the first round of the SEC Tournament here in Baton Rouge. Tournament passed as well as match-by-match tickets are available through the LSU Ticket Office or by calling 388-2184.