BATON ROUGE — The 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team closes out its regular season schedule on Saturday as the Lady Tigers host Auburn at 1 p.m. in the final home match of the year at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“It’s always a major boost to pick up a victory in your last regular season match,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “It is always good to head into the post-season with a bit of momentum, and we would like to send off our two great seniors with a win. Auburn has struggled some this season, but they are still a very talented group of players and we will have to play consistent tennis tomorrow in order to win.”
LSU heads into Saturday’s Southeastern Conference duel with an overall record of 12-8 and a 3-7 mark against conference opponents. The Lady Tigers are currently in the midst of a two-match losing streak after dropping road contests against 22nd-ranked South Carolina (2-5) and Ole Miss (2-5). LSU looks to earn its 10th-home victory of the year versus Auburn, as the Lady Tigers own a 9-3 dual-match record this season in Baton Rouge.
The Auburn Lady Tigers enter the contest with a 3-14 overall mark and a winless 0-9 record against SEC competition. Auburn has recorded losses in its previous-five matches and the Lady Tigers have only compiled one win in their last 15 matches. In its most recent match-up, Auburn fell to Arkansas, 1-4, on the road in Fayetteville, Ark. The Lady Tigers have not won a match on the road this season and possess a 0-6 mark away from home.
LSU seniors, Mandy Rice and Fernanda Tsucamoto, will make the final-home appearance of their illustrious four-year careers on Saturday. Both Rice and Tsucamoto joined the LSU women’s tennis program as freshmen in 1997 and have lead the Lady Tigers to three-straight NCAA appearances including a trip to the Sweet 16. This season, Rice has accumulated a 14-8 overall record in singles play, while Tsucamoto is on a five-match winning streak and owns a 20-12 mark.
“These two seniors have been a major part of our program for the last four seasons and we are definitely going to miss them,” Minnis said. “They are each very special people and have helped us tremendously as a team. It’s going to be sad to see them go.”
In last season’s annual match-up, LSU defeated Auburn by a score of 5-1 on the road to improve to an overall record of 13-8. The Lady Tigers improved their all-time series lead over Auburn to 16-7 with the win. The last time that the teams played in Baton Rouge, Auburn upset the Lady Tigers, 5-4, in 1999.
The 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will face its SEC rival Auburn Lady Tigers on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. The contest will be the final home match of the season for the Lady Tigers and seniors Rice and Tsucamoto will be honored before the match.