BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team opens its Southeastern Conference schedule Friday versus second-ranked Florida at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium at 4 p.m.
“Whenever you get a chance to play a team of that caliber it is always good for your team,” head coach Tony Minnis said of facing the No. 2 team in the country.
The Lady Tigers enter the competition with a 6-2 overall and 5-0 home record. They are coming off a tough loss last weekend at Texas A&M, 4-2.
After losing four close matches, three against ranked opponents, Lady Tigers senior Amanda Mang will look to pick up her first victory over a ranked opponent. Junior Lauren Seaman also looks to extend her singles winning streak to four matches. She beat her first ranked opponent last weekend in No. 72 Helga Vieira of Texas A&M.
Freshman Staten Spencer will play to remain unbeaten in singles and pick up her ninth straight win. Also unbeaten, the No. 48 pair of Seaman and Tiffany Tucker will battle for its eighth straight victory.
“One thing that’s been really important for our team is having home-court advantage,” Minnis said. “We are 20-2 in our last 22 matches at home, so any time we play here we have a great chance to win. We play with extra intensity and fire on our home court.”
Florida enters the contest with a 4-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking. They last faced South Florida and came out with a 5-2 win. Their last two scheduled matches were cancelled because of rain.
This will be the first SEC match of the year for both teams. The Lady Gators lead the all-time series 29-0.
Florida is led by junior Jennifer Magley and senior Zerene Reyes, ranked at 11th and 12th in the nation in singles, respectively. The Lady Gators boast two additional players ranked in the top 100. Boglarka Berecz owns the No. 47 spot while Alex Liles sits at No.93.
All three of Florida’s doubles teams are also in the rankings. The tandem of Whitney Benik and Lola Frangulyan are the seventh-ranked duo in the country, while Magley and Reyes together are ranked 14th. Boglarka Berecz and Nina Suvak round out the list at No. 51.
This match is the first of two for the Lady Tigers this weekend. They welcome No. 26 South Carolina to Robinson Stadium for a 1 p.m. contest Sunday.