BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team looks for another Southeastern Conference win Sunday at 1 p.m. when it plays host to Auburn at the W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Lady Tigers (9-10, 1-8 SEC) lost a 5-2 contest to Alabama at home Friday and are hoping for a weekend split when Auburn comes to town.
“We played with really good effort Friday, and I think if we play like that we have a chance to win Sunday,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “If we keep our level of intensity up, I know we’ll see good things.”
Auburn lost its Friday match as well, dropping a 7-0 contest at Arkansas. The Tigers are the last place team in the SEC West, owning a 5-14 overall record and an 0-9 mark in conference play.
LSU is 7-5 in matches at home this year, while Auburn is 4-7 in matches on the road.
The Lady Tigers defeated the Auburn Tigers in Auburn a year ago by a 6-1 margin. They have won the last three contests and lead the all-time series, 20-8.
LSU will look to its seniors for leadership in its final three matches of the regular season. Both Marina Chiarelli and Daysi Espinal have provided a spark for the Lady Tigers of late.
Both seniors won their singles matches against Alabama. Chiarelli, who won her doubles match as well with partner Anastasiya Dubova, defeated No. 79 Ashley Bentley in straight-sets to pick up her 15th win of the year, tied for the most on the team.
She is tied with Espinal, who took the win from Alabama’s Sofia Ayala on Friday. It was Espinal’s fourth win in her last five matches.
After facing Auburn, the Lady Tigers will make a trip to Tulsa for a match Wednesday before concluding the regular season at home versus Arkansas on April 15.