Falcon Makes National Semifinal, Women's Tennis History
ATHENS, Ga. — Sophomore Megan Falcon of the LSU women’s tennis team made history Saturday afternoon as she became the first Lady Tiger to reach the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Tournament by defeating seventh-seeded Natalie Frazier of Georgia, 6-4, 6-4, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Second-seeded Falcon will now face fourth-seeded Lindsey Nelson of USC on Sunday. Nelson reached the semifinals by defeating sixth-seeded Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech, 6-3, 6-3.
The win improves Falcon’s record to an incredible 38-2 this season. The sophomore sensation has won 28 straight matches. Falcon has only lost one set during her four matches in the singles tournament
“I thought it would be a good match because Natalie is a really good player and we had a good match earlier in the season when we played Georgia at home,” Falcon said. “Natalie competes as well as any other college tennis player I have faced. I tried to hang in there and I knew she would come up with big shots, especially playing at home. I just tried to stay calm and play the best I could.”
The two remaining SEC stars in the tournament gave each other little room to work with in the early goings of the first set as they split the first eight games. With the score tied at 4-all, Falcon broke Frazier to take the lead. Falcon held the next game to take the opening set, 6-4.
Frazier retaliated in the first game of the second set by not relinquishing a point on serve to go up 1-0. The Lady Bulldog won two of the next three games to take a 3-1 advantage. Falcon’s dominance began to creep back in the match as she broke Frazier the next game and rallied to go up 5-3. Falcon delayed her summer vacation by closing out the second set with a 6-4 score.
“That was about as good of a college match as I have seen,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “Frazier is an unbelievable competitor and I have all the respect in the world for her. She has had a tremendous career. After I saw the draw, I knew this could be a tough match for Megan.
Megan has won 28 matches in a row and advanced to the NCAA semifinals. It is just unbelievable what she has done. I want to make sure she stays focused for the remainder of the tournament and we will see what happens”
Georgia native Frazier may have had most of the crowd rooting for her, but Falcon also had a number of supporters in the stands. Throughout the tournament, members of the Falcon family, Megan’s boyfriend Chris and four of her teammates have been rooting for the young star. In true Tiger fashion, teammates Hannah Robinson and Staten Spencer painted their faces purple and gold for the quarterfinals match.
Falcon said the lively support has made her debut at the singles tournament extra special.
“It is great to have so many people here,” Falcon commented. “When I hit a good shot, I don’t have to get too excited because I can hear them clapping in the background and it makes it a lot easier for me to play.”
NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship
NCAA Quarterfinals
May 26, 2007
(2) #2 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. (7) Natalie Frazier (Georgia), 6-4, 6-4
NCAA Semifinals
May 27, 2007
(1) #1 Audra Cohen (Miami) vs. #18 Zuzana Zemenova (Baylor), 11 a.m.
(2) #2 Megan Falcon (LSU; 38-2 overall) vs. (4) #5 Lindsey Nelson (USC; 30-7 overall), 12:30 p.m.
NCAA Tournament seed in parenthesis before name
# – indicates ITA national ranking entering tournament