BATON ROUGE — LSU head women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis picked up the 200th win of his career Saturday, as the Lady Tigers defeated the 55th ranked Rice Owls 4-3 at W. T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU took an early advantage, sweeping the doubles matches and earning the doubles point.
Lauren Seamen and Tiffany Tucker moved their record to 4-0 with a big win over Rice’s 31st ranked doubles team of Blair DiSesa and Alanna Rodgers.
The Lady Tigers sealed the victory with singles wins from Seaman, Marina Chiarelli and Camila Caliari.
Seaman dominated Christine Dao on the No. 2 court, putting her away, 6-0, 6-2, in straight sets.
Chiarelli also downed her foe in straight sets, beating Rodgers, 6-1, 6-1.
After easily handling Rice’s Kimberly Patenaude in the first set, 6-1, Caliari dropped the second set, 1-6. However, the Lady Tiger senior rebounded to close the match 6-3, in the third set and clinch the win for the LSU.
All of the Lady Tigers’ singles losses went to three sets, including sophomore Anastasiya Dubova, who fell to Tiffany Lee in an 11-9 tiebreaker.
On the No. 1 court, freshman Mykala Hedberg faced the toughest opponent of her young career, in 31st ranked DiSesa. Despite suffering a, 6-2, 7-5, loss Hedberg showed a lot of grit, breaking DiSesa twice in the second set.
LSU sophomore Tiffany Tucker also showed a lot of determination, battling back from a 6-1 loss in the first set to win the second by the same margin. Tucker eventually succumbed to Medeja Egic, 6-3 in the final set.
Minnis accepted little fan fare in achieving his milestone, but had simple praise for his team’s performance.
“I thought we played an all around good match today,” said Minnis. “We did what we needed to do in doubles and singles to come out with the win.”
The No. 42 ranked Lady Tigers will be at home again Friday against Houston.
Rice vs LSU
Feb 04, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.
#42 LSU 4, #55 Rice 3
Singles competition
1. #31 Blair DiSesa (RU) def. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-2, 7-5
2. Lauren Seaman (LSU) def. Christine Dao (RU) 6-0, 6-2
3. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. Alanna Rodgers (RU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Tiffany Lee (RU) def. Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) 2-6, 7-5, 11-9
5. Medeja Egic (RU) def. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Kimberly Patenaude (RU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Lauren Seaman/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. #31 Blair DiSesa/Alanna Rodgers (RU) 8-4
2. Marina Chiarelli/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Kimberly Patenaude/Medeja Egic (RU) 8-4
3. Camila Caliari/Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) def. Christine Dao/Tiffany Lee (RU) 8-4
Match Notes:
Rice 2-3; National ranking #55
LSU 4-0; National ranking #42
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,2,1,6,5,4)