BATON ROUGE – – The 22nd ranked LSU women’s tennis team braved the cold weather Saturday afternoon and defeated Southern and Centenary to open the season with a 2-0 record.
“We played really good tennis out there today,” said head coach Tony Minnis. “It was extremely cold during our matches, but I think that our girls wanted to play so badly that it didn’t even bother them.”
In the opening match of the day, the Lady Tigers defeated the Southern Jaguars 6-0. Winning for LSU was junior Fernanda Tsucamoto on court No. 1, sophomores: Tami Botts, Amy McIlhaney, Kelly Craycraft, as well as freshman Lauren Haddix. Mandy Rice was also victorious in her match versus Southern’s Christy Allen.
The Lady Tigers won all twelve sets in their match with Southern, and lost only one game. Southern’s Kim Nabors took a game from Tsucamoto in the second set of their match at No. 1 singles. The other five matches were won by LSU with 6-0, 6-0 scores.
“I was very impressed with the way that we performed this morning,” Minnis said. “I was afraid that we might come out a little flat, but they did a great job of playing tough tennis and it definitely helped the outcome.”
LSU then took on the Centenary Lady Gents in the second match of the doubleheader. The Lady Tigers won by the score of 6-0. Against Centenary, LSU was victorious in all twelve sets and lost only five games.
On courts three through six, the Lady Tigers won with scores of 6-0, 6-0. Tsucamoto won on court No. 1 for LSU, 6-3, 6-0, while Haddix defeated Centenary’s Mandy Yearwood at No. 2 singles.
The Lady Tigers will host another doubleheader Sunday, January 30 against West Florida and Southeastern at W.T. “Dub” Robinson stadium. The West Florida match will begin at 10 a.m., while LSU will play Southeastern at 4 p.m.
LSU 6, Southern 0
Singles
1. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU) def. Kim Nabors (SU) 6-0, 6-1.
2. Tami Botts (LSU) def. Ikira Brown (SU) 6-0, 6-0.
3. Lauren Haddix (LSU) def. Adrienne Roberson (SU) 6-0, 6-0.
4. Amy McIlhaney (LSU) def. Carla Alexander (SU) 6-0, 6-0.
(Doubles were not played)
LSU 6, Centenary 0
Singles
1. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU) def. Sarah Everett (Cent) 6-3, 6-0.
2. Lauren Haddix (LSU) def. Mandy Yearwood (Cent) 6-2, 6-0.
3. Amy McIlhaney (LSU) def. Christine Lavin (Cent) 6-0, 6-0.
4. Tami Botts (LSU) def. Tiffany Millerd (Cent) 6-0, 6-0.
5. Mandy Rice (LSU) def. Erin Barr (Cent) 6-0, 6-0.
6. Kelly Craycraft (LSU) def. Ashley Gaines 6-0, 6-0.
(Doubles were not played)