STARKVILLE, Miss. — Fresh off of its crucial 4-3 upset over 13th-ranked Kentucky on Monday, the LSU women’s tennis team looks to register another Southeastern Conference win against the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Friday.
“I think that we have some good momentum as a team right now,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We played very well in our last two matches, even though we lost to Vanderbilt, we competed well, and now we’ll get a chance to see what we’re made of. We’ll find out whether we can play well only one or two times, or if we’ll be able to play that way consistently.”
LSU heads into Friday’s vital SEC contest with an overall record of 9-9 on the season and a 1-7 mark against conference opponents.
The Tigers’ lone SEC victory came against 13th-ranked Kentucky on Monday. The Lady Bulldogs enter the match with a 4-13 overall record on the season and with an 0-8 SEC record.
Mississippi State’s four wins during the 2002 dual-match season have come against Centenary 7-0, Southern Miss 7-0, Itawamba Community College 6-0 and Alabama-Birmingham 5-2.
“If we can play consistently this weekend, I think that we’ll be in pretty good shape,” Minnis said. “I’m actually looking forward to it and we have some good opportunities here to possibly put together a bit of a streak. We’ll see what happens.”
The Lady Tigers will be led by 65th-ranked Bruna Colosio on Friday. LSU’s senior from Cascaval, Brazil, was recently named the SEC Player of the Week on Wednesday and is in the midst of a five-match winning streak.
Colosio also teams up with partner Rocio Fantilli to form the nation’s 34th-ranked doubles team. Last season, the SEC rivals faced each other twice in dual-match play. Both of the matches took place in Starkville, Miss., and LSU upset the Lady Bulldogs, 4-3, in the first contest during the regular season, before Mississippi State avenged the loss at the SEC Tournament, 4-1.
The Lady Bulldogs hosted the 2001 SEC Women’s Tennis Tournament at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The LSU women’s tennis team has hopes of winning its second-consecutive SEC match on Friday, as the Lady Tigers face the Mississippi Lady Bulldogs on Friday at 2 p.m. in Starkville, Miss.