BATON ROUGE — Bruna Colosio, LSU’s three-time All-American women’s tennis player, earned the highest ranking of her illustrious collegiate career on Monday, as she was recognized as the sixth-ranked singles player in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
“This is definitely a huge accomplishment for Bruna,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “She is one of the best players we’ve ever had at LSU and she is the leader of our team. We need her to play well in order to be competitive and she does a good job of motivating the team.”
With the nation’s No. 6 ranking, Colosio became the highest-ranked singles player in LSU women’s tennis history. She had previously held the school record after finishing the 2000 season as the eighth-ranked player in the country. Colosio ended the 1999-00 season with a 38-9 record and has accumulated an overall mark of 85-20 in her three years at LSU.
Colosio, the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year in 2001 finished her junior season with an overall record of 26-4 and ended the year as the 11th-ranked player in the nation. The native of Cascaval, Brazil, went undefeated in conference play and earned her second Louisiana Player of the Year award.
“I believe that Bruna will take this early ranking and try to build on it,” Minnis said. “She is a very smart, determined, and gifted athlete. I know that she wants to be the best player in the nation and she has matured a lot in the past three years. She is working extremely hard to take her game to the next level.”
On Monday the ITA also released the nation’s doubles rankings. The Tigers’ combination of Colosio and sophomore Rocio Fantilli received the No. 11 position. Last season, the pair finished ranked No. 27 by earning an 18-4 record.
The LSU women’s tennis team will begin its fall season on Friday, Sept. 28, as the Lady Tigers are scheduled to travel to Las Vegas, Nev., for the UNLV Invitational.
Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings
NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis
Preseason Singles Top 10
1. Bea Bielik, Wake Forest
2. Lauren Kalvaria, Stanford
3. Adria Engel, Arizona State
4. Nataly Cahana, Old Dominion
5. Sara Walker, UCLA
6. Bruna Colosio, LSU
7. Jessica Lehnhoff, Florida
8. Mariel Verban, Georgia
9. Amanda Johnson, Duke
10. Gabriela Lastra, Stanford