BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team (6-1) returned home to pick up a big win over Tulsa (5-4), 6-1, Saturday at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“I thought we played really solid all around the board,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “They are a very good team and we played them very hard. They just came off a big upset of No. 24 Oklahoma, but we were able to fight them off.”
The Lady Tigers will complete their weekend matches Sunday as they try to upset No. 34 Florida State. They battle the Lady Seminoles at noon hoping to keep their perfect home record.
LSU began the day against Tulsa as it has in the rest of its previous matches-by winning the doubles point. And for the fifth out of six tries, the Lady Tigers swept all three matches.
Amanda Mang and Staten Spencer finished first on court two, defeating Timberly Greenly and Kindsay Grimes easily, 8-2. Camila Caliari and Marina Chiarelli also faced little difficulty in beating Lisette Pereira and Santie Delport, 8-1, on court three.
On court one, Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker faced off against the No. 57 doubles tandem in the nation in Daniela Muscolino and Carla Zabaleta looking to keep their perfect doubles record. After falling behind early, 6-3, the pair fought back and came out on top, 9-7, to remain unbeaten in dual matches this season.
“Doubles is something we have worked really hard on, and it has shown in our matches this season,” Minnis said.
In singles, Caliari finished first by defeating Agostina Santora, 6-2, 6-0, on court six. She was followed by Spencer, who won over Santie Delport, 6-2, 6-2, on court three. The win puts Spencer at a perfect 7-0 in dual singles play for the season.
On court five, Tucker fought a tough battle with Greenly in the first set. She eventually overtook her opponent in a 7-6(4) tiebreaker. She then clinched the match for the Lady Tigers with a 6-4 win in the second set.
Chiarelli fell in her first on court four, 2-6, but bounced back to win both of the next two, 6-1, 6-4. On court two, Seaman experienced no troubles in her first set, winning over Lisette Pereira, 6-1. She faced tougher competition in the second set and was unable to recover after falling behind early. Then a strong performance in the third set, 6-4, gave her the win.
Mang battled hard one court one, but lost in a tough third-set tiebreaker to No. 54 Daniela Muscolino. She fell in the first set, 4-6, and then came back to win in the second, 7-6(2). The third-set tiebreaker went back and forth, but Muscolino took the final advantage and beat Mang, 13-11.
The Lady Tigers take this momentum with them into their contest versus Florida State at noon Sunday, looking to win their seventh of the season and third in a row.
#42 LSU 6, #61 Tulsa 1
Singles competition:
1. #54 Daniela Muscilino (TUL) def. Amanda Mang (LSU) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 13-11
2. Lauren Seaman (LSU) def. Lisette Pereira (TUL) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
3. Staten Spencer (LSU) def. Santi Delport (TUL) 6-3, 6-2
4. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. Carla Zabaleta (TUL) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
5. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. Timberly Greenly (TUL) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Agostina Santoro (TUL) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles competition:
1. Lauren Seaman/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. #57 Daniela Muscilino/Carla Zabaleta (TUL) 9-7
2. Amanda Mang/Staten Spencer (LSU) def. Timberly Greenly/Kindsay Grimes (TUL) 8-2
3. Marina Chiarelli/Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Lisette Pereira/Santi Delport (TUL) 8-1
Match Notes:
Tulsa 5-4; National ranking #61
LSU 6-1; National ranking #42
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,3,5,4,2,1)
Clincher: Doubles 3; Singles 5