BATON ROUGE – – The 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team lost in a closely contested match Sunday to the 17th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. The contest lasted nearly four and a half hours with South Carolina hanging on to the victory in doubles, 5-4.
“Once again we put ourselves in a position where we had to win all three doubles matches,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We were able to defeat Texas A&M earlier in the season by sweeping
the doubles round, but in SEC play in is necessary to win at least three singles matches to expect to win.”
The Lady Tigers (7-5, 0-4) were down 4-2 after the singles round Sunday. South Carolina (10-3, 3-0) played extremely well on the higher numbered courts by winning on courts 3-6.
In No. 1 singles, LSU’s 16th-ranked Bruna Colosio handily defeated the Gamecocks’ 14th-ranked Katarina Markovski in
straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Only two singles matches went to three sets in the contest. On court No. 2, LSU’s 64th-ranked Ana Paula Mores dominated the final two sets of her match against South Carolina’s 75th-ranked Jennifer Radman after losing the opening set, 6-4. Mores was victorious, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
In the deciding match of the afternoon, Leigh Eichelberger of South Carolina was able to hold on against a determined Fernanda Tsucamoto on court No. 3. Eichelberger won the first set, 6-4, then lost the second, 3-6, before holding on in the final set of the three hour match, 6-4.
With the loss on court No. 3, the Lady Tigers needed to sweep all three of the doubles matches in order to overcome the 4-2 deficit.
LSU won on two of the doubles courts, but not before South Carolina clinched the match on court No. 2. The Gamecocks’ duo of Eichelberger and Lynn Yin Tan defeated the Lady Tigers’ team of Tsucamoto and Amy McIlhaney, 8-2, for the win.
Winning in doubles for the Lady Tigers were the 21st-ranked pair of Colosio/Mores on court No. 1 and Lauren Haddix/Tami Botts on court No. 3.
The Lady Tigers will next be in action March 8 in Dallas, Texas, as they take on the SMU Mustangs. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
#17 SOUTH CAROLINA: 5, #24 LSU: 4
SINGLES
1: #16 Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #14 Katarina Markovski (USC), 6-2, 6-2.
2: #64 Ana Paula Mores (LSU) def. #75 Jennifer Radman (USC), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
3: Leigh Eichelberger (USC) def. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
4: Tamara Sutton (USC) def. Tami Botts (LSU), 7-5, 6-3.
5: Katherine Boyanovich (USC) def. Lauren Haddix (LSU), 7-5, 6-3.
6: Lynn Yin Tan (USC) def. Amy McIlhaney (LSU), 7-5, 6-1.
DOUBLES
1: #21 Colosio/Mores (LSU) def. #44 Markovski/Radman (USC), 8-3.
2: Eichelberger/Tan (USC) def. Tsucamoto/McIlhaney (LSU), 8-2.
3: Haddix/Botts (LSU) def. Boyanovich/Catherine Brown (USC), 8-5.