RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Megan Falcon of the LSU women’s tennis team arrived in Brazil on Friday just in time to catch the Opening Ceremonies in front of a crowd of 90,000 at the XV Pan American Games at Maracana Stadium.
Falcon, along with the University of Miami’s Audra Cohen and the University of Georgia’s Natalie Frazier, make up the 2007 U.S. women’s team coached by Brian Kalbas of the University of North Carolina.
“It is always an honor to represent your country,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “Hopefully, Megan can go out there and continue playing at the level she has been for the last six months.”
The team is set to begin preliminary play on Wednesday at the Marapendi Country Club. All three players will participate in singles play, while Falcon and Cohen will pair up to compete in doubles.
Falcon will face Argentina’s Betina Jozami, the world’s No. 212-ranked player, in the round of 32 at 9:30 a.m. CDT (11:30 a.m. BRT). The doubles round of 16 begins at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The red clay courts are unfamiliar to the U.S. team, so they arrived in Brazil early to get as much preparation in as possible. They were able to practice twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday.
Cohen is the 2007 NCAA Champion and was ranked No. 1 in the country throughout the entire season. Falcon was on her heels with the No. 2 ranking for the majority of the season and became the first Lady Tiger in school history to reach the semifinal round of the NCAA tournament.
Frazier ended the season with a No. 5 national ranking. She reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament where she lost to Falcon.
Former LSU All-American Bruna Colosio, a native of Cascaval, Brazil won the Pan-American Games in 2003.
PAN AMERICAN GAMES TENNIS ROSTER – U.S. WOMEN
Audra Cohen, Plantation, Fla. (University of Miami)
Megan Falcon, Alameda, Calif. (LSU)
Natalie Frazier, Riverdale, Ga. (University of Georgia)
Coach ? Brian Kalbas, Chapel Hill, N.C. (University of North Carolina)
PAN AMERICAN TENNIS SCHEDULE – U.S. WOMEN
July 18 ? Singles, doubles prelims, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
July 19 ? Singles, doubles prelims, 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
July 20 ? Singles, doubles prelims, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
July 21 ? Doubles finals, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
July 22 ? Singles finals, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.