BATON ROUGE — Senior Amanda Mang stunned No. 4-ranked Shadisha Robinson of Georgia on Friday to lead the Lady Tigers in their 5-2 loss to the SEC powerhouse.
The win on court one was the biggest of Mang’s career. She won the first set but trailed 4-1 in the second before mounting a comeback that would result in just the sixth loss of the season for Robinson.
“That’s a huge win,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “That’s as good a win as anybody’s ever had here. She’s been close the entire year so it’s nice to see her break through.”
Mang, a Metairie native, snapped a six-match losing streak in the process.
The Lady Tigers (7-4, 1-2 SEC) refused to go quietly against No. 3 Georgia (10-1, 3-0 SEC). They managed to look impressive despite a hole in the lineup in the absence of injured junior Lauren Seaman. The lineup was almost completely different than usual without its No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles mainstay.
“We played really hard, Minnis said. “Georgia’s obviously one of best teams in country, But this team’s been playing hard the whole year.”
Freshman Tiffany Tucker also notched a singles win on court four.
All three LSU doubles teams shifted without Seaman. Mang replaced her on court one with Tucker. The two lost, 8-4 to eighth-ranked Shadisha Robinson and Caroline Basu.
Staten Spencer and Marina Chiarelli lost a close match on court two to Kelly Hyndman and Evgenia Subbotina to give the Bulldogs the doubles point. But Daysi Espinal and Camila Caliari ended doubles on a high note with an 8-5 win on court three over Natalie Frazier and Jitka Schonfeldova.
Caliari was the first off the court for LSU after a loss to Basu.
Kelley Hindman clinched the match for Georgia on court four with a win over Marina Chiarelli.
Tucker played two long sets with Subbotina on court four, but came out on top of both for a 7-6, 7-6 win.
Freshman Anastasiya Dubova was inserted to the No. 6 spot. She won the first set and led Schonfeldova, 5-1 in the second set before her leg began cramping. Schonfeldova would win in a tiebreaker.
LSU faces an only slightly smaller challenge Sunday when they play No. 23 Tennessee at 1 p.m.
#3 Georgia 5, #38 LSU 2
Singles competition:
1. Amanda Mang (LSU) def. #4 Shadisha Robinson (UGA) 6-4, 7-5
2. #26 Natalie Frazier (UGA) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Kelley Hyndman (UGA) def. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. Evgenia Subbotina (UGA) 7-6, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Caroline Basu (UGA) def. Camila Caliari (LSU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Jitka Schonfeldova (UGA) def. Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4)
Doubles competition:
1. #8 Shadisha Robinson/Caroline Basu (UGA) def. Amanda Mang/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 8-4
2. Kelley Hyndman/Evgenia Subbotina (UGA) def. Staten Spencer/Marina Chiarelli (LSU) 8-5
3. Camila Caliari/Daysi Espinal (LSU) def. Natalie Frazier/Jitka Schonfeldova (UGA) 8-5
Match Notes:
Georgia 9-1; National ranking #3
LSU 7-3; National ranking #38
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,1,2,3,4,6)