PALO ALTO, Calif. — The LSU women’s tennis team is prepared to do battle in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, as the Lady Tigers take on the Ole Miss Lady Rebels at noon CDT here in Palo Alto, Calif.
“Ole Miss is a tough team and they are definitely playing some very good tennis right now,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We are looking forward to playing them and I feel very good about the way that we have been practicing lately. The break after the SEC Tournament did a lot of good for our players and I feel that we can beat anyone in the nation if we play up to our potential.”
LSU heads into its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance with an overall record of 14-9 on the season and as the No. 26 team in the nation.
The Lady Tigers enter the 2001 post-season as one of only 15 teams in the country to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in seven-straight seasons.
“It’s an honor to be included in this elite group of teams and to be considered as one of the top women’s tennis programs in the nation,” Minnis said. “I have been fortunate to have a lot of great players over the years and their hard work and dedication has made this a top program.”
The 35th-ranked Lady Rebels opened the 2001 dual-match season with a five-match winning streak against non-conference opponents but struggled in Southeastern Conference play to end the year with a 9-12 overall record.
Ole Miss finished 3-8 versus SEC opponents and as the ninth-place team in the conference.
Despite the Lady Rebels’ disappointing performance in the SEC, Ole Miss recorded a 5-2 regular season victory over the Lady Tigers at home in Oxford, Miss. With the win, the Lady Rebels earned their 10th-straight victory over LSU and took a commanding 15-9 lead in the all-time series between the schools.
LSU’s Bruna Colosio, the eighth-ranked player in the nation will lead the Lady Tigers on Friday in both the doubles and singles competitions.
Colosio, an integral member of the nation’s 27th-ranked doubles tandem along with Rocio Fantilli, has accumulated a 23-3 overall record in singles play and was named the SEC Player of the Year last week. She will face Ole Miss’ 32nd-ranked Julie DeRoo in the No. 1 singles match.
The nation’s top-ranked team, Stanford, is hosting the NCAA Regional and will play Boston University in the final first-round match on Friday.
Stanford finished the season as the PAC-10 Champion and ended dual-match play with a perfect overall record of 24-0. Boston University earned the American East Conference title and has accumulated a 11-7 overall record this season.
The 26th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will face No. 35 Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 10 a.m. (Central time) here at the Tuabe Family Tennis Stadium in Palo, Alto, Calif.