PALO ALTO, Calif. — The 26th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team continued its woes against Ole Miss on Friday, as the Lady Tigers dropped their 11th-straight match versus the Lady Rebels, 4-1, and were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament here in Palo Alto, Calif.
“We just didn’t play very well at all,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “It was disappointing to see the lack of enthusiasm that our team showed today, because I know that we are capable of playing much better than we did. After taking the doubles point, I thought that we had a good shot of winning the match, but we played really flat in singles.”
LSU earned the first point of the match on Friday as the 27th-ranked doubles team comprised of Bruna Colosio and Rocio Fantilli overcame a two-game deficit on court No. 1 by defeating the Lady Rebels’ combination of Julie DeRoo and Mira Radu.
DeRoo and Radu led the match by a score of 7-5 before the Lady Tigers rallied from behind to win the competition 9-8(6) and clinch the doubles point.
The teams split the doubles matches on courts No. 2 and 3. Ole Miss’ Aleysa Ignatieva and Hanna-Katri Aalto were victorious on court No. 2 over the Lady Tigers’ pair of Fernanda Tsucamoto and Amy McIlhaney, while LSU’s Tami Botts and Lauren Haddix dropped the Lady Rebels’ Audra Adams and Camilla Gould.
In singles play, Ole Miss began its domination of the first-round match as the Lady Rebels rattled off four-straight wins to advance to the second round. Ole Miss’ Adams clinched the victory at court No. 6 with a decisive 6-3, 6-4, win over LSU’s McIlhaney.
With the loss, LSU finished its 2001 dual-match season with an overall record of 14-10. The 35th-ranked Lady Rebels will face the Stanford-Boston University winner on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (Central time) in the regional championship match at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
#35 Ole Miss: 4, #26 LSU: 1
Singles
1. #8 Bruna Colosio (LSU) vs. #32 Julie DeRoo (UM), suspended.
2. Hanna-Katri Aalto UM) def. Rocio Fantilli (LSU), 6-1, 6-3.
3. Alesya Ignatieva (UM) def. Lauren Haddix (LSU), 6-2, 6-1.
4. Mira Radu (UM) def. Fernanda Tsucamoto (LSU), 6-1, 6-2.
5. Tami Botts (LSU) vs. Kareem Harboe (UM), suspended.
6. Audra Adams (UM) def. Amy McIlhaney (LSU), 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles
1. #27 Colosio/Fantilli (LSU) def. DeRoo/Radu (UM), 9-8(6).
2. Aalto/Ignatieva (UM) def. Tsucamoto/McIlhaney (LSU), 8-2.
3. Botts/Haddix (LSU) def. Adams/Gould (UM), 8-5.