BATON ROUGE — After a three-hour rain delay, the LSU women’s tennis team was tied with Tulsa, 3-3, entering doubles play before the Golden Hurricane recorded victories on court Nos. 1 and 2 to hand LSU a 4-3 loss on Saturday evening at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“It was a tough loss for us,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We had some chances to win the match, but they (Tulsa) fought us tooth and nail and were able to pull it out. Our girls played hard, but we just need to gain some experience.”
With the loss, LSU dropped its second-consecutive contest and fell to an overall mark of 5-3 on the season. Last Saturday, the Lady Tigers were defeated by Texas A&M, 5-2, on the road in College Station, Texas.
Tulsa (5-4) picked up wins from its doubles combination of Alicia Pillay and Aleksandra Durska on court No. 1, 8-4, and the tandem of Mariana Barrios and Donata Majauskaite, 8-6, on court No. 2 to secure the slim 4-3 victory.
“We just have a really young team right now and we still have a lot of maturing to do,” Minnis said. “On the bright side, I do see us improving in every match, so right now we just have to concentrate on SMU tomorrow.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will return to action on Sunday as the Lady Tigers host the Southern Methodist Lady Mustangs at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Tulsa def. LSU, 4-3
Singles
1. #20 Alicia Pillay (Tulsa) def. #116 Rocio Fantilli (LSU), 6-4, 6-2
2. #102 Aleksandra Durska (Tulsa) def. Jessica Ferguson (LSU), 6-3, 6-3
3. Amanda Mang (LSU) def. Donata Majauskaite (Tulsa), 6-2, 6-3
4. Daniella Muscolino (Tulsa) def. Marina Chiarelli (LSU), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5
5. Daysi Espinal (LSU) def. Tiffany Smith (Tulsa), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Timberly Greenly (Tulsa), 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
1. Durska/Pillay (Tulsa) def. #60 Fantilli/Seaman (LSU), 8-4
2. Mariana Barrios/Majauskaite (Tulsa) def. Ferguson/Mang (LSU), 8-6
3. Caliari/Espinal (LSU) def. Zoe Buhagiar/Muscolino (Tulsa), 8-2
Overall Record: LSU 5-3, Tulsa 5-4