BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team travels to College Station, Texas, this weekend for a matchup with Texas A&M before beginning conference play.
“Outside of conference, Texas A&M is probably one of our biggest rivals that we compete against,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “It’s always a battle, and I expect nothing different this year.”
The Lady Tigers (6-1) look to pick up their third victory in a row while the Aggies (2-8) hope to snap a two-match losing skid.
“A&M’s record is not really reflective of how good of a team they are, because they have competed against many of the top-15 teams in the country and played them close,” Minnis explained.
LSU is coming off a 6-1 victory last weekend over Tulsa. The win improved the Lady Tigers to 6-1 on the season, including a perfect 5-0 at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium. They have split their road matches thus far.
The duo of junior Lauren Seaman and freshman Tiffany Tucker entered the ITA doubles rankings at No. 48 this week with a 6-0 record in dual matches and after an upset of then-No. 57 Daniela Muscolino and Carla Zabaleta of Tulsa on Saturday. They will likely face the No. 41 tandem in the country in Texas A&M’s Helga Vieira and Anna Lubinsky.
“As always, winning the doubles point is going to be big in this match,” Minnis said. “We have taken big steps in that area, and having Lauren and Tiffany ranked in the top 50 is a good start.”
In singles play, freshman Staten Spencer is also undefeated. She carries her 7-0 record into Saturday’s contest with the Aggies.
Texas A&M suffered a 3-4 loss Sunday to Nebraska, its fourth 3-4 loss of the season.
Sophomore Lubinsky leads the Aggies, ranked at No. 54 with a 7-3 dual-match singles record. Senior Vieira also ranks in the top 100 in singles at No. 72.
The match will begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. It is LSU’s final tune-up before starting conference play the following weekend against Florida and South Carolina.