WACO, Texas – – In the opening tournament of the1999 fall season, the LSU women’s tennis team is coming home with something more important than a trophy. They are returning to Baton Rouge with much needed experience. With their top two players competing in a tournament in Stanford, the new Lady Tigers knew that they had to step up.
“This tournament (Rice Tennis Classic) has been very beneficial for this team,” said head coach Tony Minnis. “With Ana (Mores) and Bruna (Colosio) playing out in Stanford this weekend, it gave our younger players a chance to get a more experience.”
Sophomore Amy McIlhaney, who hadn’t played a match as a Tiger before the tournament, finished in third place of the Flight C bracket. She played three big matches against tough opponents during the weekend. McIlhaney beat Kansas’ Kim Lorenz 6-3, 7-5, Barbara Schrami 7-5, 7-5, but lost in the semi-finals to Lisa Mallaiah from Kansas.
Erin Fedas, the freshman from Roswell, Georgia also gained some critical court experience. After losing her opening match to Brenna Shackleford from TCU, she advanced all the way to the consolation championship. In the championship, Fedas showed a lot of heart and emotion but came up short to Olga Mikhallova from Tulane 6-0, 7-5.
In the Flight B bracket of singles play, Mandy Rice also advanced to the consolation championship. Rice, after winning the first set 7-6 ran out of gas in the championship against Tulane’s Joyce Bergman 6-7, 6-1, 6-3.
The Lady Tiger tennis team won’t be coming home with a trophy this weekend, but the experience that they are bringing back will help them win more in the future.