BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team fell to the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators, 7-0, on Sunday afternoon at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium in Baton Rouge.
“We faced a very tough team today and just were not able to do what we wanted to,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “We are founding out how difficult every match in the conference is, and since the SEC is the top conference in the country we will have to have intensity every match to be successful.”
With the loss the Lady Tigers dropped to 7-6 on overall and 1-3 in the SEC while Florida improved to 13-1 and 4-0 in league action. LSU lost to South Carolina on Friday by a score of 5-2.
The Gators got off to a quick start in the match by winning the doubles competition to go up 1-0. The Gators clinched the first point on court No. 1 when Florida’s Julia Scaringe and Alexis Gordon defeated LSU’s combination of Rocio Fantilli and Lauren Seaman.
In singles play, Florida clinched on court No. 4 when Gordon defeated Daysi Espinal in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. On court No. 1, Fantilli battled the Gators’ 25th-ranked Scaringe before falling in consecutive sets, 6-3, 6-2 in one of the best matches of the day.
The Lady Tigers will stay at home this coming weekend to host two SEC matches. LSU will face Tennessee on Fri. March 14 at 4 p.m. and then will meet Georgia at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 16.
#1 Florida (13-1, 4-0 SEC) def. LSU (7-7, 1-3 SEC), 7-0
March 9, 2003- Baton Rouge, La.
Doubles
1. Scaringe/Gordon (UF) def. Fantilli/Seaman (LSU), 8-2
2. Magley/Reyes (UF) def. Ferguson/Espinal (LSU), 8-2
3. Berettes/Rotundi (UF) def. Caliari/Chiarelli (LSU), 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. Scaringe (UF) def. Fantilli (LSU), 6-3, 6-2
2. Rotundi (UF) def. Ferguson (LSU), 6-0, 6-1
3. Reyes (UF) def. Chiarelli (LSU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Gordon (UF) def. Espinal (LSU), 6-1, 6-4*
5. Magley (UF) def. Seaman (LSU), 6-1, 6-0
6. Berettes (UF) def. Caliari (LSU), 6-2, 6-1
*clinched match
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 5, 3, 4, 2