BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team dropped its second-straight Southeastern Conference match by the score of 6-1 on Monday, as the Lady Tigers were outhit by the seventh-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores at home in the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“They just played better than we did today,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “I mean it’s simple. If you don’t play better than the other team, you’re going to lose. Vanderbilt is a very good team, and they definitely played like the seventh-ranked team in the nation out there today.”
After dropping its second-straight match versus a team ranked among the top 10, LSU fell to an overall record of 8-3 on the season. The Lady Tigers are 2-2 against SEC opponents after losing to fourth-ranked Florida (6-1) on Sunday, and seventh-ranked Vanderbilt on Monday.
The Commodores remained perfect versus SEC competition as the team compiled its third-conference win of the season on Monday. Vanderbilt also improved to an overall record of 12-1 in dual matches. The Commodore women have been victorious in the previous four matches versus LSU. The Lady Tigers have not beaten Vanderbilt since recording a 5-4 victory in 1997.
LSU fell behind early in the match as the Commodores earned the doubles point with wins on both courts No. 1 and No. 2. Vanderbilt’s 12th-ranked combination of Kate Burson and Julie Ditty defeated the Lady Tigers’ 14th-ranked pair of Bruna Colosio and Rocio Fantilli on court No. 1, 8-4, while the 25th-ranked duo of Aleke Tsoubanos and Sarah Riske clinched the point for the Commodores with an 8-4 victory on court No. 2. Riske and Tsoubanos improved to an overall record of 10-3 with the win.
In singles play, the lone bright spot for the Lady Tigers was No. 44 Colosio’s win on court No. 1 over Vanderbilt’s 23rd-ranked Ditty. Colosio had a demanding 6-3, 2-1, lead in the contest when Ditty retired due to a leg injury. Colosio improved to 13-2 on the season with the win that proved to be LSU’s only point of the match.
The Commodores clinched the total-team victory in No. 6 singles as Kelly Schmandt notched Vanderbilt’s fourth point of the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win against LSU’s Mandy Rice.
The Lady Tigers came close to picking up two points late in the match as both Lauren Haddix and Fernanda Tsucamoto forced third sets. Haddix took the second set from 60th-ranked Jenny Miller, 6-4, but then ran out of gas in the last set. The final score of the match was 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Tsucamoto forced the third frame by winning the second set, 3-6, against Vanderbilt’s Tsoubanos before the Commodore’s No. 5 singles player rebounded with a 6-2 victory in the final set.
“We just have to put these last-two losses behind us and get prepared to face SMU on Friday,” Minnis said. “It’s still early in the season and there is no need to get down because we lost to two top-10 teams.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on Friday, March 9, as the Lady Tigers host the Southern Methodist Lady Mustangs at 2 p.m. in the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
#7 Vanderbilt: 6, LSU: 1
Singles
1. #44 Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #23 Julie Ditty (VU), 6-3, 2-1, def.
2. #40 Sarah Riske (VU) def. Rocio Fantilli (LSU), 6-1, 6-2.
3. #60 Jenny Miller (VU) def. Lauren Haddix (LSU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
4. Kate Burson (VU) def. Tami Botts (LSU), 6-1, 6-4.
5. Aleke Tsoubands (VU) def. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
6. Kelly Schmandt (VU) def. Mandy Rice (LSU), 6-1, 6-4.
Doubles
1. #12 Burson/Ditty (VU) def. #14 Colosio/Fantilli (LSU), 8-4.
2. #25 Tsoubanos/Riske (VU) def. Tsucamoto/McIlhaney (LSU), 8-4.
3. Haddix/Rice (LSU) def. Lauren Rose/Miller (VU), 8-6.