BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team is set to challenge the fifth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday at 4 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Vanderbilt is a very tough, talented team,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “They are extremely well-coached and will be a challenge for us tomorrow. We have been making some major strides in practice as a team this week and playing at home will be an advantage for us.”
The Lady Tigers head into Friday’s Southeastern Conference matchup with an overall record of 8-8 on the season and an 0-6 mark against conference foes.
LSU owns one of the nation’s toughest schedules this season and has faced five opponents ranked among the top 25. The Lady Tigers have dropped hard-fought contests against No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Georgia, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 21 Texas A&M and 24th-ranked South Carolina.
No. 5-ranked Vanderbilt comes into Baton Rouge sporting an 18-3 overall record and a 4-2 conference mark. Last week, the Commodores lost their first match in five contests with a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat on the road against top-ranked Florida.
Vanderbilt’s two other losses during the 2002 dual-match season have both come against second-ranked Georgia. The Commodores were dropped, 4-1, in the championship match of the ITA National Indoor Championships on Feb. 10, and then lost, 4-3, at home in Nashville, Tenn., on March 1.
“We’ve played a number of tough teams this season,” Minnis said. “Vanderbilt is definitely another tough team, but we won’t be awed by them. Every team is hard to beat in the SEC and our team is prepared for another battle.”
In last season’s annual meeting between the two SEC teams, Vanderbilt, then ranked No. 7 in the nation, defeated the Lady Tigers, 6-1, in Baton Rouge.
With the win, Vanderbilt lessened its deficit in the all-time series record to 11-14. The Commodores have been victorious in the previous four matches of the rivalry dating back to 1997.
The Commodores currently have three players ranked among the nation’s top 100 and two doubles teams ranked among the top-50 pairs in the country.
Vanderbilt’s Sarah Riske is ranked No. 7, Jenny Miller is No. 40 and Katie Blaszak is the 80th-ranked singles player in the nation.
In the national doubles rankings, Vanderbilt’s pair of Aleke Tsoubanos and Riske is currently the No. 9 combination in the country, while the tandem of Kate Burson and Annie Menees comes in as the 37th-ranked duo in the nation.
The LSU women’s tennis team will look to knock off the fifth-ranked team in the nation on Friday, as the Lady Tigers host the Vanderbilt Commodores at 4 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU tennis matches.