BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team received its first loss of the season against No. 32 Texas A&M on Sunday, 7-0.
After opening the season 4-0, the Lady Tigers (4-1) could not maintain control in any matches other than on one doubles court in their loss to Texas A&M (3-2).
“We just didn’t come out ready to play today,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We have been competing much better for the most part and were capable of much better. I give Texas A&M all the credit for being able to take advantage of the opportunities it had.”
The only win LSU earned on the day was Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker‘s on the No.1 doubles court over the 29th-ranked duo in the country of Sarah Foster and Anna Lubinsky, 8-5. It was the second straight match where the duo defeated a tandem ranked in the top 30, as last week Seaman and Tucker beat No. 30 Blair DiSesa and Alanna Rodgers of Rice.
The Lady Tigers failed to take the opportunity they had early to win the doubles point.
On court three, Camila Caliari and Anastasiya Dubova fell quickly, 8-0, to Tiffany Clifford and Seva Iwinski. But Seaman and Tucker evened things up on court one with a win of their own No. 29 Foster and Lubinsky, 8-5.
It appeared as if LSU would win the doubles point, up 7-4 on court two needing just one more game to claim the early lead for the Lady Tigers. But Marina Chiarelli and Mykala Hedberg lost momentum and did not win another game the rest of the match. Anna Blagodarova and Nicki Mechem claimed the match, 9-7, grabbing the doubles point for Texas A&M.
Things didn’t start off much better for LSU in singles, as Texas A&M captured wins in the first set on all six courts.
Tucker fell first on court five to Clifford, 6-1, 6-1, followed by Seaman on court two, who fell to Foster, 6-3, 6-3. That put the Aggies up, 3-0, needing just one more win to claim the match.
But the Lady Tigers battled back on the remaining courts, almost pushing all their opponents into a third set. They were successful in doing so on courts one, three and six, but Dubova lost her match on court four to Mechem to give the Aggies the point they needed to clinch the match.
Hedberg and Lubinsky played a third-set tiebreaker on court one, Lubinsky earning the 10-5 victory.
Caliari and Chiarelli both played complete third sets on their respective courts. Caliari fell in hers, 6-1,to Marisa Druss to give the Aggies the sixth point of the match.
Chiarelli could not overcome the 51st-ranked singles player in the nation on court three either, as Blagodarova outlasted her, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
The Lady Tigers have a week off before returning to action in their first road contest of the year at Florida State Feb. 22.
Match Results
#32 Texas A&M 7, #43 LSU 0
Singles competition
1. Anna Lubinsky (TAMU) def. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-3, 3-6, 10-5
2. Sarah Foster (TAMU) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
3. #51 Anna Blagodarova (TAMU) def. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
4. Nicki Mechem (TAMU) def. Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) 6-3, 7-5
5. Tiffany Clifford (TAMU) def. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Marisa Druss (TAMU) def. Camila Caliari (LSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Lauren Seaman/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. #29 Sarah Foster/Anna Lubinsky (TAMU) 8-5
2. Anna Blagodarova/Nicki Mechem (TAMU) def. Mykala Hedberg/Marina Chiarelli (LSU) 9-7
3. Seva Iwinski/Tiffany Clifford (TAMU) def. Camila Caliari/Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) 8-0
Match Notes:
Texas A&M 3-2; National ranking #32
LSU 4-1; National ranking #43
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,2,4,1,6,3)