LEXINGTON, Ky. — The 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team was dropped by the No. 25 Kentucky Lady Wildcats on Sunday, as the Lady Tigers were defeated, 6-1, in their second-straight road contest here at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky.
“This was a very disappointing loss for us,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We are a lot better than we played today, but for some reason a lot of our players didn’t show up. Kentucky is an outstanding team, and it seemed as if they couldn’t miss a shot. We just need to look past this loss and get ready for Purdue.”
With the loss, LSU dropped to an overall record of 10-6 on the season and fell to a 2-5 mark in Southeastern Conference play. After opening SEC dual-match competition at 2-0, the Lady Tigers have been defeated in their last-five conference matches.
Kentucky improved to an overall record of 10-6 on Sunday and earned its fourth-SEC win of the season. The Lady Wildcats began 1-3 in the conference before winning their previous-three SEC matches over Alabama, Arkansas and LSU.
For the second-straight match, the Lady Tigers fell a break point short of earning the doubles point as the 18th-ranked tandem of Bruna Colosio and Rocio Fantilli was dropped by Kentucky’s 44th-ranked duo of Carolina
Mayorga and Sarah Witten. LSU’s combination of Tami Botts and Lauren Haddix defeated Kentucky’s Leigh Bradwell and Shannon Stafford, 8-4, on court No. 3 to even the doubles matches at 1-1.
In the singles competition, the Lady Wildcats were victorious in five of the six matches. LSU’s 23rd-ranked Colosio earned the Lady Tigers’ lone point of the contest by defeating Kentucky’s 77th-ranked Mayorga, 6-3, 6-1, on court No. 1. Colosio extended her winning streak to eight-straight matches with the win and improved overall record to 18-2 on the season. She is undefeated versus SEC opponents and has registered a 6-0 conference record.
“Bruna is playing some of the best tennis of her career right now,” Minnis said. “She’s had some injuries to her serving shoulder, but that has made her even more dangerous. Now she is playing smarter and that makes her almost impossible to beat.”
The 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on Wednesday, March 25, at 1 p.m., as the Lady Tigers head to West Lafayette, Ind., for a match-up with the Purdue Lady Boilermakers.
#25 Kentucky: 6, #24 LSU: 1
Singles
1. #23 Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #77 Carolina Mayorga (UK), 6-3, 6-1.
2. Sarah Witten (UK) def. Rocio Fantilli (LSU), 7-6(3), 6-4.
3. Brooke Skeen (UK) def. Lauren Haddix (LSU), 6-1, 6-1.
4. Leigh Bradwell (UK) def. Tami Botts (LSU), 7-5, 6-3.
5. Lauren Rookledge (UK) def. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU), 6-2, 6-7(4), 1-0.
6. Amy Trefethen (UK) def. Amy McIlhaney (LSU), 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles
1. #44 Witten/Mayorga (UK) def. #18 Colosio/Fantilli (LSU), 9-7.
2. #25 Skeen/Rookledge (UK) def. Tsucamoto/McIlhaney (LSU), 8-0.
3. Botts/Haddix (LSU) def. Shannon Stafford/Bradwell (UK), 8-4.