BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team dropped a tough 5-2 decision to No. 31 Alabama on Friday at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium on Friday.
After losing the doubles point, two early singles wins were not enough for the Lady Tigers (9-10, 1-8 Southeastern Conference) to defeat the SEC West-leading Crimson Tide (9-8, 5-4 SEC).
“It was a hard-fought match, but we just couldn’t pull it out in the end,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We had some great effort out there, and we just need to remain focused.”
Despite the loss, Senior Marina Chiarelli picked up a big win over a ranked opponent, defeating No. 79 Ashley Bentley in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, on court two. She handed Bentley only her third SEC loss of the year, as she was 6-2 in conference action headed into the match.
The Lady Tigers once again could muster only one victory on the doubles court, this one coming in a 9-8(3) tiebreaker by Marina Chiarelli and Anastasiya Dubova over Melissa Day and Natalie McElveen on court two.
Both courts one and three resulted on Alabama victories. The 20th-ranked duo of Ashley Bentley and Robin Stephenson defeated Mykala Hedberg and Tiffany Tucker, 8-2, on court one, and Andrea Brenes and Mari Muller outlasted Camila Caliari and Lauren Seaman, 8-6.
In singles Hedberg fell first to 14th-ranked Stephenson on the one court, 6-2, 6-3. Chiarelli then captured her impressive win on court two to bring the score to 2-1 in the Tide’s favor.
Daysi Espinal evened the match back up at 2-all with her straight-sets win on the six court. The senior defeated Sofia Ayala, 6-4, 6-1, for the fourth win in her last five matches.
Seaman next succumbed to McElveen on court four. She lost in a tiebreaker in the first set, 7-6(2), and then dropped the second set, 6-3.
Alabama led, 3-2, ahead on both remaining courts, and got the win it needed to clinch the match on court five when Shelley Godwin defeated Caliari. The first set came down to a tiebreaker that took Godwin nine points to claim. The Tide competitor then took the next set in more commanding fashion, 6-3.
Play finished up on court three with a three-set match between Dubova and Muller. Dubova dropped the first set, 6-1, but fought to a 6-2 advantage in the second. She came back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the score at 4-all and then again at 5-all, but she eventually fell in the decisive set, 7-5.
The Lady Tigers welcome Auburn to Baton Rouge on Sunday before heading to Tulsa for a Tuesday match.
Match Results
#31 Alabama 5, #61 LSU 2
Singles competition
1. #14 Robin Stephenson (ALA) def. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Marina Chiarelli (LSU) def. #79 Ashley Bentley (ALA) 6-2, 6-4
3. Mari Muller (ALA) def. Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5
4. Natalie McElveen (ALA) def. Lauren Seaman (LSU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
5. Shelley Godwin (ALA) def. Camila Caliari (LSU) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
6. Daysi Espinal (LSU) def. Sofia Ayala (ALA) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #20 Ashley Bentley/Robin Stephenson (ALA) def. Mykala Hedberg/Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 8-2
2. Marina Chiarelli/Anastasiya Dubova (LSU) def. Melissa Day/Natalie McElveen (ALA) 9-8 (7-3)
3. Andrea Brenes/Mari Muller (ALA) def. Camila Caliari/Lauren Seaman (LSU) 8-5
Match Notes:
Alabama 9-8 (5-4 SEC); National ranking #31
LSU 9-10 (1-8 SEC); National ranking #61
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,6,4,5,3)