BATON ROUGE — The 30th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team defeated the Purdue Boilermakers, 7-2, Saturday in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
“We played pretty solid tennis today,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “It was definitely good for our team to come back today and get a win after losing two tough matches. Now we just need to put those losses behind us and focus on winning our upcoming matches.”
LSU improved its overall record to 11-7 with the win, while Purdue dropped to a 6-10 mark on the season. The Lady Tigers snapped a two-match losing streak Saturday, but the Boilermakers were defeated in their third-straight match.
The Lady Tigers secured the victory in singles play as Lauren Haddix clinched the match by winning the third-set tiebreaker, 9-7, over Purdue’s Lisa Walgenbach on court No. 5. The final score of the match at No. 5 singles was 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7).
LSU was victorious in five of the six singles matches. 11th-ranked Bruna Colosio won, 6-3, 6-1, over Purdue’s Jennifer Embry, while the Lady Tigers’ 68th-ranked Ana Paula Mores defeated Shannon Tahony, 7-5, 6-0, on court No. 2.
“I think that we did a great job of playing our way out of tough situations today,” Minnis said. “We were in tough spots on almost every court in singles play, and our girls did a great job of fighting for the wins, and
that’s what we need to do in order to make it back to the NCAA Tournament.”
Juniors Mandy Rice and Fernanda Tsucamoto were also victorious in singles play for the Lady Tigers. Rice picked up LSU’s first point of the match by handily defeating Purdue’s Linsey Fick on court No. 6, 6-4, 6-1. In No. 3 singles, Tsucamoto won her match versus Erika Quebe in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
With the match already decided, the teams played doubles with LSU winning on courts No. 1 and No. 3. The 10th-ranked duo of Colosio and Mores defeated Purdue’s 20th-ranked combination of Embry and Tahony, 8-4, in No. 1 doubles, and LSU’s team of Tsucamoto and Botts won on court No. 3, 8-3. They beat Melissa Iqbal and Quebe.
The LSU Lady Tigers will next be in action Wednesday, April 5, as they host the Tulane Green Wave at 2 p.m.
LSU: 7, PURDUE: 2
SINGLES
No. 1 – #11 Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. Jennifer Embry (PUR), 6-3, 6-1.
No. 2 – #68 Ana Paula Mores (LSU) def. Shannon Tahony (PUR), 7-5, 6-0.
No. 3 – Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU) def. Erika Quebe (PUR), 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 4 – Melissa Iqbal (PUR) def. Tami Botts (LSU), 7-6(2), 7-5.
No. 5 – Lauren Haddix (LSU) def. Lisa Walgenbach (PUR), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7).
No. 6 – Mandy Rice (LSU) def. Linsey Fick (PUR), 6-4, 6-1.
DOUBLES
No. 1 – #10 Colosio/Mores (LSU) def. #20 Embry/Tahony (PUR), 8-4.
No. 2 – Fick/Walgenbach (PUR) def. Amy McIlhaney/Haddix (LSU), 9-8(1).
No. 3 – Tsucamoto/Botts (LSU) def. Quebe/Iqbal (PUR), 8-3.