BATON ROUGE — The Lady Tigers (9-5, 1-4) will put their 11-match home win streak on the line against fourth-ranked Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Sunday, but the Lady Commodores (14-2, 4-1) might be the toughest team to travel to the W.T. Robinson stadium since that streak began in March 2003.
LSU has posted big wins over top-20 teams in its last two matches after a slow start in the SEC. Vanderbilt will be the third top-five team the Lady Tigers have faced in the past month.
“Vanderbilt is a great team,” said LSU head coach Tony Minnis. “Hopefully we will play to our capability and try to knock them off.”
LSU’s reigning SEC Player of the Week, Jessica Ferguson, will have her hands full along with the rest of the top of the singles lineup. Vanderbilt brings three nationally ranked singles players, along with two ranked doubles teams.
No. 27-ranked Audra Falk leads Vanderbilt at No. 1 singles. Seniors Kelly Schmandt and Aleke Tsoublanos are ranked third in the nation in doubles.
The Lady Commodores shut out LSU last season, but the Lady Tigers’ duo of Rocio Fantilli and Lauren Seaman upended Tsoubanos and Sarah Riske, the first-ranked doubles team in the nation.
LSU began its conference schedule with four tough losses on the road, including matches against then second-ranked Florida and a week later against second-ranked Georgia. Since returning home, their luck has changed.
The Lady Tigers stunned 16th-ranked Texas A&M on March 11. They took a weekend off but continued their success Friday against 15th-ranked Kentucky to earn their first SEC win of the season, 4-3.
“Beating two top-16 teams should do a lot for our confidence,” Minnis said.