BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team dropped its first home match of the season on Sunday, as the Lady Tigers fell a point shy of the 19th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 4-3, at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I thought that we played really well today,” said head coach Tony Minnis. “We fought as hard as we could, but we just came up a little short against a very good team. The effort was outstanding, we played well, we just got tight during some critical moments of the match.”
The critical moment of Sunday’s contest came in the No. 3 singles match. Texas A&M held a 3-2 lead in the non-conference battle when Majorie Terburgh overcame a first-set loss, 7-5, to rally past LSU’s Rocio Fantilli in the final two sets, 6-0, 6-2. With the vital win on court No. 3, Texas A&M clinched its fourth road victory of the young season.
LSU dropped to an overall record of 7-2 on Sunday as the Lady Tigers head into Southeastern Conference play against Alabama on March 2. Texas A&M improved to a 6-1 record on the season and travel to Missouri to open their conference play.
The Aggies took a crucial 1-0 lead in Sunday’s contest by barely sweeping the doubles matches. The score was close on each court as Texas A&M notched an 8-6 win court No. 1 and 9-7 victories on courts No. 2 and No. 3. LSU lost the doubles point for the second-consecutive match after the Lady Tigers fell to Houston in doubles on Saturday.
“We had opportunities to close them out in certain circumstances,” Minnis said. “We never took full advantage of them and we played tentative at some points. It looked like we weren’t always going for our shots and we needed to be a bit more aggressive. Texas A&M is a good team and it was a very hard-fought match.”
In singles play, the Lady Tigers quickly evened the match at 1-1 with a victory on court No. 5. LSU’s talented freshman, Amanda Mang, cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over the Aggies’ Roberta Spencer. Mang improved to an overall record of 14-10 with the win.
The Lady Tigers’ second point of the match was earned on court No. 2 by 87th-ranked Tami Botts. The fiery senior from Ashland, Ore., overpowered Texas A&M’s Martina Nedorastova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, in the contest. With the win, Botts recorded her 12th-straight victory and improved her overall record to 17-3.
LSU’s All-America Bruna Colosio picked up a gutsy win in the No. 1 singles match over 73rd-ranked Jessica Roland. After falling in the first set, 6-3, Colosio rebounded and rallied to 6-4 victories in each of the final two sets. The win was Colosio’s first of the season over a ranked opponent and increased her overall record to 6-3.
The LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on March 2, as the Lady Tigers open up its SEC season at home against the 25th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The match will begin at 4 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
#19 Texas A&M (6-1) def. LSU (7-2), 4-3.
Doubles
1. Hedburg/Roland (A&M) def. Colosio/Fantilli, 8-6.
2. Leah Killen/Nederastova (A&M) def. Mang/McIlhaney, 9-7.
3. Spencer/Terburgh (A&M) def. Botts/Budd, 9-7.
Singles
1. Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #73 Jessica Roland, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
2. #87 Tami Botts (LSU) def. Martina Nedorastova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
3. Majorie Terburgh (A&M) def. Rocio Fantilli, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.
4. Amanda Mang (LSU) def. Roberta Spencer, 6-3, 6-1.
5. Ashley Hedburg (A&M) def. Amy McIlhaney, 7-5, 6-1.
6. Olivia Karlikova (A&M) def. Perri Budd, 6-1, 7-6(2).