MALIBU, Calif. — Southern Cal’s 12th-ranked women’s tennis team used an over-powering singles lineup to eliminate 32nd-ranked LSU from the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, 5-2, here in the round of 16 Thursday at Pepperdine University.
With the loss, the Lady Tigers end their season with a 16-11 overall mark. LSU reached the Sweet 16 at the NCAA Championships for only the second time in school history. Southern Cal improved to 18-8 overall and advances the face second-ranked Georgia in the quarterfinals on Friday.
LSU advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 5-4 upset-win over sixth-ranked Pepperdine last week.
“We had a chance today,” LSU coach Tony Minnis said. “We had a chance to win at both No. 2 and No. 3 in singles, but we came up short. Southern Cal deserves a lot of credit because they played a solid match.
“I was extremely pleased with the play of Bruna (Colosio) and Amy (McIlhaney). We’ve had a great season and we had a nice run in tournament play. Now we know what it takes to get to here and I expect to be back next season.”
LSU’s first singles win came at the No. 1 spot where 11th-ranked Bruna Colosio cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win over 67th-ranked Kara Warkentin. Amy McIlhaney won the other match for the Lady Tigers, posting a 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 win over Tiffany Brymer at No. 6.
Southern Cal swept the four remaining singles spots, three coming in straight sets to take a 4-2 advantage into doubles. LSU actually had a chance to even the match at 3-3 heading into doubles, but Southern Cal’s Veronica Safarova rallied for a 3-set win over 80th-ranked Ana Paula Mores at No. 2. The singles match was the final of Mores’ LSU career.
“Ana has done so much for this team for such a long period of time,” Minnis said. “She’s going to be missed and she’s going to be very tough to replace.”
The Women of Troy clinched the victory at No. 3 doubles where Anita Loyola and Jacqui Boyd posted an 8-1 win over Tami Botts and Lauren Haddix.
Singles
No. 1 #11 Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #67 Kara Warkentin (USC), 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 #49 Veronika Safarova (USC) def. #80 Ana Paula Mores (LSU), 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
No. 3 #17 Jewel Peterson (USC) def. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU), 7-6, 6-1
No. 4 Jacqui Boyd (USC) def. Tami Botts (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 Anita Loyola (USC) def. Lauren Haddix (LSU), 6-4, 6-0
No. 6 Amy McIlhaney (LSU) leads Tiffany Brymer (USC), 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
Order of finish: #1, #4, #5, #3, #2, #6
Doubles
No. 1 Peterson / Warkentin (USC) vs. #3 Colosio / Mores (LSU), not played.
No. 2 Brymer / Safarova (USC)vs. McIlhaney / Tsucamoto (LSU), not played
No. 3 Boyd / Loyola (USC) def. Botts / Haddix (LSU), 8-1