BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team grabbed another win Sunday, downing Lamar, 6-1, at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Lady Tigers improved to 6-1 with their second straight win and with one more game left against Houston on Wednesday before opening Southeastern Conference play.
“I thought Lamar competed well and played with good intensity,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “We needed a match like that on our home court against a competitive team.”
Lamar dropped to 4-3 with the loss, though its No. 1 doubles team of Andrea Martinez and Tara Shelander, ranked 36th, earned a quality win over LSU’s No. 37 Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker.
The LSU duo jumped to a 3-0 start, but could not maintain the advantage and only won one more game before falling 8-4.
That was the only doubles wins the Cardinals notched, however, as the Lady Tigers prevailed on the other two courts and snatched the early lead.
Camila Caliari and Daysi Espinal began their doubles match on a roll, exploding to an 8-0 win on court three over Kendall Gibbs and Maria Gutierrez.
Marina Chiarelli and Mykala Hedberg, who went up 3-0 early, gave up that lead and battled back and forth with Pamela Martinez and Tanya Roberts on court two, eventually posting the 8-6 win to clinch the doubles point for the Lady Tigers.
Seaman and Tucker’s loss on court one was their first of the season as a pair. But LSU still won the doubles point for the sixth time in seven matches.
Then they continued the trend of winning matches when claiming that all-important doubles point.
“Doubles actually got really tight, so it was good we were able to pull out that point,” Minnis said.
Anastasiya Dubova struck first in singles, disposing of Pamela Martinez on court four quickly in two sets, 6-0, 6-1. Caliari also grabbed a quick two-set win over Gibbs on court six by the same advantage.
Seaman won her first set on court three over Roberts, 6-4, but had to withdraw from the match because of a back injury. That gave Lamar its first point, still trailing LSU, 3-1.
It was also their last point, as the other Lady Tigers fought out wins on the remaining courts.
Chiarelli captured the win for LSU with her clincher on court two over Shelander, 6-3, 6-1. The match was the first Chiarelli played this season in the No. 2 slot, as she had been a mainstay at No. 3 singles.
“She’s been solid her whole career,” Minnis said. “She just did what she’s always done, but she’s doing it at a higher level.”
LSU grinded out wins on the remaining two courts as well. Hedberg won two tiebreakers, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), over Andrea Martinez on court one. Then Tucker, who dropped her first set, 6-4, won a second-set tiebreaker, 7-6(5). In a third-set supertiebreaker, she finished off Gutierrez, 10-8.
LSU will play its next match Wednesday when the Lady Tigers welcome Houston to Baton Rouge in their final tune-up before SEC play.
MATCH RESULTS
#43 LSU 6, Lamar 1
Singles competition
1. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Andrea Martinez (LAM) 7-6(4), 7-6(3)
2. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. Tara Shelander (LAM) 6-3, 6-1
3. Tanya Roberts (LAM) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU) 4-6, ret. (inj.)
4. Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) def. Pamela Martinez (LAM) 6-0, 6-1
5. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) def. Maria Gutierrez (LAM) 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8
6. Camila Caliari (LSU) def. Kendall Gibbs (LAM) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #36 Andrea Martinez/Tara Shelander (LAM) def. #37 Lauren Seaman/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 8-4
2. Marina Chiarelli/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Pamela Martinez/Tanya Roberts (LAM) 8-6
3. Camila Caliari/Daysi Espinal (LSU) def. Kendall Gibbs/Maria Gutierrez (LAM) 8-0
Match Notes:
Lamar 4-3
LSU 6-1; National ranking #43
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,6,3,2,1,5)