TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The LSU women’s tennis team won its third match in five days by upending a tough 29th-ranked Alabama squad, 4-3, Sunday on the road.
“We played hard today with a lot of determination,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We had a really strong doubles performance and fought equally hard in singles.”
The Lady Tigers have now won three straight matches — two in the Southeastern Conference — to boost their record back above .500 at 10-9 (3-7 SEC). Alabama fell to 7-12 (2-8 SEC) with the loss.
The Lady Tigers continued their dominance in doubles Sunday, sweeping the competition for the third straight match.
Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker cruised to an 8-1 victory over Robin Stephenson and Natalie McElveen. Then to clinch the first point, Amanda Mang and Staten Spencer beat Ashley Bentley and Melissa Minor, 8-3. Camila Caliari and Marina Chiarelli finished the sweep with an 8-6 win of their own over the 51st-ranked duo in the country of Mari Muller and Melissa Day.
“Having Lauren back in the lineup has been huge for us, especially in doubles,” Minnis said. “We were dominant in doubles today, and since she’s been back and the lineup is back to the usual, we’ve swept all the doubles points we’ve played. She is a tremendous player and a key part of our team.”
The continued excellent play by the bottom half of LSU’s singles lineup — Chiarelli, Tucker and Caliari — once again helped propel the Lady Tigers to victory.
“We knew at the beginning of the season that our strength as a team would be our depth,” Minnis commented. “It’s great that they are coming through for us at this point in the season when we need them and that they have been able to do it consistently over the past few weeks.”
The Lady Tigers put up two more points on the board right away in singles to make the score 3-0 with one more point needed to clinch the match. Those quick two-set wins came from Tucker and Caliari, who added to their impressive individual winning streaks with the victories.
Tucker easily defeated McElveen, 6-2, in both sets, giving the freshman her fifth win in a row. Caliari eased to her win as well over Andrea Brenes, 6-2, 6-3. It was Caliari’s sixth straight.
LSU’s competitors on courts one, two and three all won their first set, but Alabama’s players stormed back to win the second set in all three giving hopes of coming back for a victory.
But before they had a chance, Chiarelli clinched the match for the Lady Tigers on court four with her defeat of Muller. After winning the first set 6-3 and going up in the second 5-4 , Muller fought back and tied the score at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker.
Chiarelli came through for her team, winning the tiebreaker, 7-3, to claim her fourth straight win and cement the victory for LSU.
All three Alabama competitors on the first three courts completed their comebacks by winning third sets. Their three points were not enough, though, as the Tide fell for the eighth time in SEC play.
This match concluded the string of three matches in five days for the Lady Tigers. They will play another three matches in five days next week, beginning with Louisiana-Lafayette at home Tuesday.
“This has a been a really good few matches for us, we just need to make sure we’re ready to go out and do the same thing when we play ULL,” Minnis said.
#49 LSU 4, #29 Alabama 3
Singles
#8 Robin Stephenson (UA) def. Amanda Mang (LSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
#58 Ashley Bently (UA) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU) 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3)
Melissa Minor (UA) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. Mari Muller (UA) 6-3, 7-6(3)*
Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. Natalie McElveen (UA) 6-2, 6-2
Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Andrea Brenes (UA) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
Seaman/Tucker (LSU) def. Stephenson/McElveen (UA) 8-1
Mang/Spencer (LSU) def. Bentley/Minor (UA) 8-3
Caliari/Chiarelli (LSU) def. #51 Muller/Day (UA) 8-6
Order of finish
Singles: 5,6,4,3,1,2
Doubles: 1,2,3