BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team defeated the Southern Methodist Mustangs for a seventh-consecutive season on Sunday as the Lady Tigers used crucial wins from freshmen Camila Caliari and Daysi Espinal to earn a 5-2 victory at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I think that this team is really maturing well,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “They played hard today and I’m impressed with how much we’ve improved since the (Texas) A&M match. That’s why we always try to play a tough schedule, so that we can put our players in a position where they can go out, play some good teams and see what they’re made of.”
With LSU leading the non-conference match 3-2, Espinal overcame a first-set deficit to knock off SMU’s Allison Leuszler, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, on court No. 5.
The victory clinched the contest for the Lady Tigers and snapped LSU’s two-match losing streak. Espinal, a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, improved to a 13-5 overall record on the season.
LSU (6-3) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Sunday as the Lady Tigers earned the doubles point with wins on courts No. 1 and No. 3.
In the No. 1 doubles match, LSU’s 60th-ranked combination of Rocio Fantilli and Lauren Seaman dropped the Mustangs’ duo comprised of Kit Carson and Svetlana Kouzmenko, 8-3, while the Lady Tigers’ pair of Caliari and Espinal picked up the deciding victory on court No. 3 over Nadia Vaughan and Paige Evans, 8-6. With the win, Fantilli and Seaman upped their overall record on the season to 10-5.
The Mustangs dropped their third-straight match on Sunday and fell to 8-3 on the season. Prior to losing to the Lady Tigers, SMU fell prey to Arkansas, 4-3, on Feb. 12, and Tulane, 4-3, on Friday.
LSU recorded wins from Fantilli, Espinal, Caliari and Marina Chiarelli in singles play.
Fantilli defeated Carson, 6-4, 6-4, on court No. 1, while Chiarelli cruised past Siayerah Rambally, 6-0, 6-4, in the No. 4 singles match and Caliari outlasted Vaughan, 7-5, 6-7(4), 1-0(2). With the victory, Caliari extended her winning streak to eight-consecutive matches and upped her overall record on the season to 9-2.
“The bottom half of our lineup is playing really well right now and it’s actually a big change for us,” Minnis said. “Our teams have typically been strong at the top of the order, but now we have the depth and the talent to go with six very good singles players.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on Friday as the Lady Tigers begin Southeastern Conference play on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide at 3 p.m. in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
LSU def. SMU, 5-2
Doubles
1. #60 Fantilli/Lauren Seaman (LSU) def. Carson/Kouzmenko (SMU), 8-3
2. Langer/Leuszler (SMU) def. Ferguson/Mang (LSU), 8-4
3. Caliari/Espinal (LSU) def. Vaughan/Paige Evans (SMU), 8-6
Singles
1. #116 Rocio Fantilli (LSU) def. Kit Carson (SMU), 6-4, 6-4
2. #100 Jenny Langer (SMU) def. Jessica Ferguson (LSU), 6-3, 6-4
3. Svetlana Kouzmenko (SMU) def. Amanda Mang (LSU), 6-0, def.(inj)
4. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. Siayerah Rambally (SMU), 6-0, 6-4
5. Daysi Espinal (LSU) def. Allison Leuszler (SMU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Nadia Vaughan (SMU), 7-5, 6-7(4), 1-0(2)
Records: LSU 6-3, SMU 8-3