BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU women’s tennis team looks to remain undefeated on Saturday as the Lady Tigers host both the Southern Lady Jaguars and the UL-Monroe Indians beginning at 10 a.m. in the W. T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The dual matches were previously scheduled to be played at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., but due to the threat of inclement weather, the LSU coaching staff bumped the matches up to 10 a.m. (Southern) and 2 p.m. (ULM).
“We had the last match scheduled for 6 p.m., but it’s supposed to be pretty cold tomorrow night,” explained LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We moved the times up to the afternoon so that it would be warmer and more comfortable for the fans.”
The Lady Tigers head into Saturday’s contest with a 2-0 overall record. In the opening day of dual match play, LSU recorded a pair of 7-0 shutouts over both Centenary and West Florida.
With the win against Centenary, the Lady Tiger tennis team improved its winning streak versus in-state opponents to 28-straight matches. LSU’s most recent loss to a school located in Louisiana was in 1994 to Tulane. The Lady Tigers dropped the match, 3-6, in Baton Rouge.
Lauren Haddix, LSU’s dynamic sophomore from Charleston, W. Va., will make her return to the starting lineup on Saturday after being forced to sit out of last week’s matches due to illness. She accumulated a 24-13 overall record in 1999-2000 as a freshman.
“We need to play with more focus and a higher level of intensity tomorrow,” Minnis said. “We seemed to be a little sluggish in our matches last week, but I think that with Lauren (Haddix) coming back that we should play with more fire. She (Haddix) adds a lot of competitiveness and emotion to the team, and that should help.”
Southern and UL-Monroe have each competed in one dual match so far this season. In the Lady Jaguars’ season opener, Southern upset Centenary, 4-3, in Baton Rouge, while UL-Monroe was dropped by 18th-ranked Baylor, 7-0, in its first match of dual play.
The Lady Tigers have never lost in a dual match against Southern, and LSU possesses a 7-0 all-time record versus the Lady Jaguars. Last season, the Lady Tigers’ were victorious in the annual match, 6-0. The LSU women’s tennis team is 10-4 all-time against UL-Monroe. The in-state rivals have not competed since LSU defeated the Indians, 8-1, in 1992.
“We had a good week in practice,” said Minnis. “This team has an enormous amount of experience, but we just need to play up to our capabilities.”
The 23rd-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will face Southern at 10 a.m. and UL-Monroe at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. There is no price of admission for the newly-renovated stadium.