TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a long first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the LSU women’s tennis team, as the Lady Tigers fell in a seven hour-long match, 4-3, to Mississippi State at Alabama’s tennis courts.
“They played really well, and there’s not much more you can say about it,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We played well, but didn’t take opportunity of all of the advantages when we had them.”
A match that began at 9 a.m. lasted until 4 p.m. Not only did the doubles point last two hours, but rain in the middle of singles play forced the matches to indoor courts to be completed with a short break for transportation.
“After the rain, there was a definite shift in momentum,” Minnis explained. “Things like that happen all the time so you have to be prepared, but we just lost our momentum after the rain delay.”
With the loss, LSU dropped to 12-11 for the season. SEC West Co-champions Mississippi State advances to play the tournament’s top seed Kentucky on Friday at 9 a.m. The Wildcats won the SEC regular-season title and currently rank third in the nation.
Though the match did not end in LSU’s favor, the Lady Tigers began the day with a victory in a grueling two-hour doubles match.
Just as in their previous meeting earlier this month, the doubles point came down to a 9-7 decision on a third court after splitting the two others. But instead of the Lady Bulldogs taking that early advantage, the Lady Tigers claimed the first point of the day.
The matches on courts one and two proved to be mainly one-sided affairs. Amanda Mang and Staten Spencer won easily on court two, 8-2, and Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker fell to the 21st-ranked duo of Zsuzsanna Fodor and Anastasia Kugakolova, 8-2, as well.
But court three yielded a different kind of match with a different result. The Lady Bulldogs mixed up their doubles lineup, splitting the usual court two duo of sisters Hayley and Tarryn Rudman and placing the latter on court three.
But the strategy did not end up successful, as the two hour-long marathon favored LSU in the end, 9-7. After falling behind 6-3, Marina Chiarelli and Camila Caliari fought back to tie the score at 6-all. They broke the serve to take the 7-6 advantage, and then were broken themselves as MSU tied the score at 7-all.
But the LSU pair grabbed the momentum to finish the match with two straight points and take the 9-7 victory and clinch the first point of the match for the Lady Tigers.
Singles did not move very swiftly either. With LSU and MSU each up on three courts, rain came forcing the match to move to indoor courts across campus.
The Lady Bulldogs maintained their advantage on courts one, two and three, helping their cause after dropping the doubles point.
Tucker picked up a two-set win, 6-2, 6-4, on court five for LSU for her sixth straight SEC win. Caliari won a three-set match of her own on court six to tie the score at 3-all for her seventh straight conference victory.
Chiarelli, who won her first set 6-3, lost a close second one, 7-6. After falling behind 4-1 in the third set, she climbed back to tie it at 4-all and kept the remainder of the match extremely close.
But her opponent Renee Joseph outlasted Chiarelli in the end, 7-5. Unfortunately for Chiarelli, Joseph had not played doubles and had more strength to finish the match.
The Lady Tigers now return to Baton Rouge to await NCAA Tournament selections for their fate the rest of the season.
#30 Mississippi State 4, #42 LSU 3
Singles
1. #15 Zsuzsanna Fodor (MSU) def. Amanda Mang (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
2. Anastasia Kugakolova (MSU) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Tarryn Rudman (MSU) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 6-1, 6-0
4. Renee Joseph (MSU) def. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) 3-6, 7-6, 7-5
5. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. Magdi Rekasi (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Polina Kokoulina (MSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles
1. #21 Fodor/Kugakolova (MSU) def. Seaman/Tucker (LSU) 8-2
2. Mang/Spencer (LSU) def. H. Rudman/Rekasi (MSU) 8-2
3. Caliari/Chiarelli (LSU) def. T. Rudman/Kokoulina (MSU) 9-7
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3) Singles (2,3,5,1,6,4)