BATON ROUGE — This weekend’s Southwest Regionals at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas, mark the first time this fall season that every member of the LSU women’s tennis team will compete in a tournament.
Amanda Mang, the team’s lone senior who is currently ranked at No. 120, sat out last weekend’s Hoosier Classic in Bloomington, Ind. She will be back in action this weekend, where a win could send her to the National Indoor Championships.
“This is obviously a very important tournament,” said Coach Tony Minnis. “Whoever wins this gets an automatic bid to the National Indoors.”
The singles finalists and doubles winner from each of the 17 regions automatically earn spots in those championships.
Competing along with Mang for LSU will be Daysi Espinal, who has already won a singles title and a consolation bracket this season, Marina Chiarelli, Camila Caliari and Lauren Seaman. The two freshmen in Tiffany Tucker and Staten Spencer, who finished in third place in her Hoosier Classic bracket, will also participate.
In doubles, Seaman and Spencer will team up again after winning the doubles title at the Hoosier Classic last weekend. Mang and Espinal will also pair up as will Tucker and Chiarelli.
Competition for the weekend consists of a number of ranked players from 24 Division I schools in the region, including three in the top 50. Texas’s Petra Dizdar comes in at No. 20, and Julie Smekodub and Erika Valdes of Tulane rank at No. 38 and 45, respectively.
Considering the talented opponents, Minnis said he hopes the team can compete in this event with the same intensity he has seen so far this fall season.
“We have played some solid tennis,” he said. ” I hope we can continue to play hard and keep the momentum up.”
The first matches begin Friday at 9 a.m., and play will last through Tuesday.