BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team is set to host its second in-state doubleheader of the 2003 dual-match season on Saturday as the Lady Tigers face Southern at 10 a.m. and Louisiana-Monroe at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This is a huge weekend for us,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We did very well last week and now we just have to make sure that we continue to play hard and compete with the same kind of intensity. This team has done an outstanding job of being focused and tomorrow we need to go out and play as hard as we can.”
LSU heads into Saturday’s doubleheader with an overall record of 2-0 after sweeping both Louisiana Tech and Centenary by identical 7-0 scores a week ago. With the pair of victories, the Lady Tigers opened the season with at least a 2-0 record for the 11th-straight year.
The last time that the LSU women’s tennis team did not open the season with at least a 2-0 record was in 1991 under head coach Geoff Macdonald. After defeating Georgia Tech, 8-1, the Lady Tigers lost their second contest of the 1991 campaign, 7-2, against Georgia. LSU finished the year with an impressive 19-6 overall record and earned its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
LSU holds decisive leads in the all-time records against both Southern and Louisiana-Monroe. The Lady Tigers have never been defeated by their cross-town rivals and own a 27-4 overall record against the Indians in a series that goes all the way back to 1976. LSU holds a 9-0 advantage versus Southern.
“Both Southern and UL-Monroe have made some great strides these past few years,” Minnis said. “Their talent level has definitely improved and they are both more competitive teams this season. We can’t take them lightly and look past them in preparation for Sunday’s match against Florida State.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will host both Southern and Louisiana-Monroe in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches.