BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team knocked off the No. 13-ranked Kentucky Lady Wildcats in dramatic fashion on Monday, as the Lady Tigers overcame a three-point deficit to upset the Cats, 4-3, at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I’m about as proud of this team as I have been of any one of my previous teams,” said 11th-year head coach Tony Minnis. “They had every reason to quit this year. We’ve had numerous injuries, as well as a lot of bad breaks against us in some matches, but this team just kept fighting and clawing. This was a huge win for us today.”
With the overall score of the match knotted at 3-3, Kentucky’s Amy Trefethen rebounded in the second set against the Lady Tigers’ Amanda Mang and won the frame, 7-5, after being down, 5-1. Despite falling in the previous set, LSU’s Mang bounced back and earned the Lady Tigers’ first Southeastern Conference victory of the season by outlasting Trefethen in the third set, 6-2.
Mang’s 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win on court No. 4 put the finishing touches on the Lady Tigers’ four-point rally to defeat Kentucky on Monday after trailing in the match, 0-3. With the win, LSU’s talented freshman from New Orleans, earned her fifth-conference victory of the season and upped her overall record to 20-13.
The Lady Tigers improved to an overall record of 9-9 on the season and increased its record against conference opponents to 1-7. With the loss, Kentucky fell to a 13-5 overall record on the season and dropped to a 4-4 SEC mark.
“This was an outstanding win for us,” Minnis said. “Kentucky is the 13th-ranked team in the nation and they’ve beaten some very good teams. They upset North Carolina this year, and with this win, we’ve put ourselves in a good position to make it back to the tournament. We have a chance to win out, but we need to come to play, like we did today.”
Kentucky took an early 3-0 lead in the contest with two wins in doubles play and a pair of quick victories in the singles competition.
In doubles, the Wildcats were victorious on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to earn the vital doubles point. LSU’s No. 1-doubles combination of Bruna Colosio and Rocio Fantilli upended Kentucky’s seventh-ranked duo of Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten, 8-6, to improve to an overall record of 8-7 on the season.
With their backs against the wall trailing 3-0 in the match, the Lady Tigers began their stellar comeback with straight-set victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2 over top-50 ranked opponents.
Colosio, LSU’s three-time All-American and the 2001 SEC Player of the Year, notched her fifth-consecutive victory on court No. 1 with a 7-5, 6-1 win over the Wildcats’ 37th-ranked Carolina Mayorga. With the win, Colosio improved to an overall record of 11-7 on the season and became the eighth-winningest player in LSU history.
LSU’s senior from Cascaval, Brazil, upped her career record to 98-30 and passed former Lady Tiger great, Ana Paula Mores, in the all-time win list. Mores, an All-American in 2000, finished her illustrious career with 97 singles wins.
The Lady Tigers’ second singles win in Monday’s come-from-behind victory was earned by Fantilli on court No. 2. LSU’s hard-nosed sophomore knocked off the Wildcats’ 44th-ranked Witten, 6-2, 7-5, to earn her first victory over a top-50 ranked opponent this season. The win mark her third-in-a-row and upped her overall record to 7-9 in dual-match play.
LSU’s Tami Botts turned in the most valuable win of the afternoon on Monday.
The Lady Tigers’ senior from Ashland, Ore., was trailing, 1-4, in the third set of her match against Lauren Rookledge, when she reeled off five-consecutive games and earned the 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory on court No. 3 to even the score at 3-3.
Botts snapped an eight-match losing streak with the vital, three-set win on Monday and improved to an overall record of 18-11 on the season. Botts owns an impressive 10-2 record in three-set contests this year.
The LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on Friday, April 5, as the Lady Tigers travel to Starkville, Miss., for an SEC contest against Mississippi State at 2 p.m.
LSU 4, #13 Kentucky 3
Doubles
1. Colosio/Fantilli (LSU) def. #7 Mayorga/Witten (UK), 8-6
2. #50 Bradwell/Rookledge (UK) def. Botts/McIlhaney (LSU), 8-6*
3. Trefethen/Buckley (UK) def. Budd/Mang (LSU), 8-4
Singles
1. Bruna Colosio (LSU) def. #37 Carolina Mayorga (UK), 7-5, 6-1
2. Rocio Fantilli (LSU) def. #44 Sarah Witten (UK), 6-2, 7-5
3. Tami Botts (LSU) def. Lauren Rookledge (UK), 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
4. Amanda Mang (LSU) def. Amy Trefethen (UK), 6-4, 5-7, 6-2*
5. Jill Buckley (UK) def. Amy McIlhaney (LSU), 6-3, 6-4
6. Leigh Bradwell (UK) def. Perri Budd (LSU), 6-4, 6-2
Overall Records: LSU 9-9 (1-7), Kentucky 13-5 (4-4)