BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team will begin its 2003 dual-match season on Saturday as the Lady Tigers host both Louisiana Tech and Centenary in a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The season-opening match against Louisiana Tech was originally scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. but was pushed back to 10 a.m. due to the recent cold weather in the Baton Rouge area.
“I feel really good about our team this season,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “These kids have really been training hard and have been practicing well. Tomorrow is what all of the hard work was for because it’s gives them a chance to compete against some other players. Louisiana Tech and Centenary are both very improved teams and they each have some talented players.”
LSU’s 2003 roster will feature a lot of new faces this season as the Lady Tigers have a total of five newcomers and only four returning letterwinners.
The Lady Tigers’ five new members include Camilla Caliari, Marina Chiarelli, Daysi Espinal, Jessica Ferguson and Lauren Seaman. Freshmen Caliari, Chiarelli, Espinal and Seaman are members of possibly one of the program’s top-recruiting classes in recent history, while Ferguson joins the Lady Tigers after spending last season at Tyler Community College.
After earning LSU’s eighth-consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships in 2002, the Lady Tigers return four talented players this season in Perri Budd, Rocio Fantilli, Amanda Mang and Bonnie White. Budd, Mang and White are each classified as sophomores on this year’s squad, while Fantilli is the team’s most-veteran player as a junior.
“We’re still pretty young, but he have some enormous talent,” Minnis said. “This team has all of the goods that it needs to be very special, but we still have a ways to go and we need to continue to work hard. I love the work ethic on this team and the girls have a tight bond with each other already.”
LSU heads into Saturday’s competition with an undefeated all-time record against both Centenary and Louisiana Tech. Last season, the Lady Tigers dropped Centenary, 5-1, to improve to a perfect 15-0 record against the Ladies, while LSU defeated Louisiana Tech, 6-0, to move its all-time record to 5-0.
Centenary will enter Saturday’s competition with the only match experience of the 2003 season, as the Ladies were knocked off by Mississippi State, 6-1, on Jan. 18. With the loss, Centenary dropped to an overall record of 0-1.
The LSU women’s tennis team will open its 2003 dual-match season on Saturday at 10 a.m. with a doubleheader against both Louisiana Tech and Centenary at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches.