BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team will face its first non-conference opponent in seven matches on Sunday as the Lady Tigers host the Ohio State Buckeyes at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I think that we’re ready to get out there and compete,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We’ve had a good week of practice and it’s good for us to face some tough competition tomorrow even if it’s not an SEC opponent. The last four teams that we’ve faced have all been ranked in the top-25 and I think that the tough schedule will be beneficial for us in the long run.”
LSU heads into Sunday’s contest with an overall record 7-8 and a 5-6 mark at home in Baton Rouge. The Lady Tigers are in the midst of a four-match losing streak after facing No. 1 Florida, No. 5 Georgia, No. 11 Tennessee and the 24th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks during the previous two weeks of Southeastern Conference play.
Ohio State comes to Baton Rouge for the first time in school history and brings with it an overall record of 9-2 on the season.
The Buckeyes have won their previous three matches and own a favorable 3-0 record in Big Ten play. Ohio State has competed very well away from home this season as the Buckeyes have compiled a 7-2 mark in matches played either on the road or at a neutral site.
“Ohio State has a very talented team and they are playing well this season,” Minnis said. “They are also really well rested right now because they haven’t competed in two weeks and they seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. We’re just going to have to come out and play aggressive tennis and jump out to a good start against them.”
The Buckeyes will be led in Sunday’s match by senior Sadnaf Pervez. The native of Warren, N.J., is the 59th-ranked singles player in the nation and is expected to play in the No. 1 singles position. She will most likely face LSU’s Rocio Fantilli, who owns a 14-12 overall record on the season and has knocked off a top-100 ranked opponent in Auburn’s 93rd-ranked Carolina Ramirez.
LSU and Ohio State have only met once prior to Sunday’s contest. In the opening round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament, LSU registered a 5-2 victory over the Buckeyes en-route to its third Sweet-16 appearance in eight seasons.
The LSU women’s tennis team will look to snap its four-match losing streak on Sunday as the Lady Tigers host the Ohio State Buckeyes in a non-conference matchup at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.