OXFORD, Miss. — The LSU women’s tennis team will take on its first opponent from the Southeastern Conference Western Division when it travels to Ole Miss to take on the Lady Rebels on Friday at 4 p.m. in the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
The Lady Tigers, who own an 8-8 overall record, have completed their match-ups with SEC Eastern foes, unable to muster a win in six matches.
LSU head coach Tony Minnis said the team needs to increase the intensity of its play in the remaining matches versus divisional foes.
“We’re ready to play, but we need to step it up in these next few matches,” he said. “We have the opportunity to end our season on a good note, but we need to bring our best, beginning with Ole Miss on Friday.”
Ole Miss is currently the second-place team in the SEC West with an 8-6 overall record and a 1-5 mark in conference play. Their SEC win came at the expense of last-place Auburn.
Three of the Lady Rebels’ losses have come in close 4-3 decisions, including to No. 11 Vanderbilt.
“They’re a better team than their record shows,” Minnis said. “They’ve lost some close 4-3 decisions, and one more point here or there and they could be looking at a much better ranking.”
LSU is looking to end a three-match losing skid, falling in consecutive matches to Kansas, South Carolina and Florida. Ole Miss was also on a three-match losing skid until they defeated Troy on Wednesday to snap that.
Freshman Kseniia Tokarieva, ranked 81st in the country, has led Ole Miss this season. She is an outstanding 13-1 in dual matches, including 5-1 in the SEC.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series, 19-11. The Lady Rebels won the 2005 contest, but each of the last four meetings have produced a different winner than the previous one.