LEXINGTON, Ky. — The LSU women’s tennis team fell on the road against the 15th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 7-0 on Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky.
“It was a hard loss for us today, but I’m pleased with how our team competed,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We had chances to win a couple of the singles matches and we fought hard until the end. This is a very young team and we are still in the process of maturing.”
With the loss, LSU dropped to an overall record of 8-10 on the season and fell to a 1-7 mark against Southeastern Conference opponents.
Including Sunday’s 7-0 decision against No. 15 Kentucky, six of the Lady Tigers’ seven conference losses have come against foes currently ranked among the top-20 teams in the nation. LSU has also been defeated in hard-fought conference matches by No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 13 Vanderbilt, and the 20th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.
Kentucky (16-6, 6-2 SEC) won all three doubles matches and then continued its momentum into the singles competition to win all six of the individual points.
With the absence of its No. 3 singles player, Amanda Mang, LSU was forced to move everyone else up a spot in the lineup. Mang, who has been struggling with an injured shoulder all season, re-injured her right shoulder during Friday’s doubles point against Vanderbilt.
“Amanda is a leader and she means a lot to both our doubles and our singles play,” Minnis said. “With her out of the lineup, we start four freshmen and five newcomers and that is just a lot of inexperience to have in a starting lineup. Despite that fact, I think that we played very well out there today against a very good team in Kentucky.”
The LSU women’s tennis team will next be in action on Wednesday, April 2, as the Lady Tigers travel to New Orleans to face off with their in-state rival Tulane at 5 p.m. at the Goldring Tennis Center.
#15 Kentucky (16-6, 6-2 SEC) def. LSU (8-10, 1-7 SEC), 7-0
Doubles
1. #8 Witten/Trefethen (UK) def. Fantilli/Seaman (LSU), 8-5
2. Bradwell/Buckley (UK) def. Ferguson/Chiarelli (LSU), 8-4
3. Roels/Stafford (UK) def. Espinal/Caliari (LSU), 8-2
Singles
1. #49 Sarah Witten (UK) def. Rocio Fantilli (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
2. #101 Nathalie Roels (UK) def. Jessica Ferguson (LSU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
3. Jill Buckley (UK) def. Marina Chiarelli (LSU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
4. Shannon Strafford (UK) def. Daysi Espinal (LSU), 6-2, 6-2
5. Amy Trefethen (UK) def. Camila Caliari (LSU), 6-2, 6-2
6. Shannon Staugh (UK) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU), 7-6(2), 6-3