BATON ROUGE — Despite fighting hard in a match that lasted more than four hours, the LSU women’s tennis team fell, 6-1, to Texas A&M at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium Sunday.
Texas A&M (4-0) went up 1-0 in the match as the Aggies swept all three doubles matches. First to finish was court one where A&M’s Tiffany Clifford and Christi Liles snapped Mykala Hedberg and Staten Spencer‘s six-match win streak, 8-2. The Aggies clinched the doubles point on court three as Tiffany Tucker and Nicole Kantor fell to A&M’s duo of Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank, 8-3.
On court two, LSU’s Megan Falcon and Hannah Robinson fell to Anna Blagodarova and Michelle Sammons, 8-6.
In singles, the Aggies quickly made it 2-0 when Frank knocked off Robinson on court five, 6-1, 6-0. LSU (3-2) responded right back when Falcon downed Elz? Potgieter in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
However, Texas A&M fought right back as Liles defeated Kantor on court four, 6-1, 6-2 to push the Aggies’ lead to 3-1.
It would be more than an hour before another match finished as LSU fought back on courts two, three and six after losing the first set. On court three, Tucker rallied to win the second set 7-5 after falling, 6-3, in the first. However, Texas A&M’s Clifford was able to pull out the tight third set, 6-4, to clinch the match and the victory for the Aggies.
On court two, Hedberg lost the first set, 6-4, but fought off defeat by winning a tiebreaker in the second set against Anna Blagodarova, 7-6(7). Like the first two sets, the third set was close, but Blagodarova was able to pull it out, 7-5 to put the Aggies up 5-1.
After dropping the first set, 6-1, to Michelle Sammons on court six, Spencer was able to rally and win the second set, 6-4. Just like on court two, the third set for Spencer and Sammons was back and forth. In the end, Sammons edged Spencer, 7-6(6) to win the match and the final point for the Aggies.
“Obviously, I was disappointed with the outcome,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “I didn’t do a good enough job preparing the team for the match. Our strength has always been our competitiveness throughout the season, and we certainly competed hard. A&M played great, but we have to a better job of competing.”
LSU will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 16, when the Lady Tigers host New Mexico and Grambling. The match against New Mexico is scheduled for noon, and the match against Grambling is set to begin at 5 p.m.
#27 Texas A&M 6, #34 LSU 1
February 10, 2008 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #8 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. Elz? Potgieter (A&M) 6-3, 6-1
2. Anna Blagodarova (A&M) def. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-5
3. Tiffany Clifford (A&M) def. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
4. Christi Liles (A&M) def. Nicole Kantor (LSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Hannah Robinson (LSU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Michelle Sammons (A&M) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6)
Doubles competition:
1. Tiffany Clifford/Christi Liles (A&M) def. #30 Mykala Hedberg/Staten Spencer (LSU) 8-2
2. Anna Blagodarova/Michelle Sammons (A&M) def. Megan Falcon/Hannah Robinson (LSU) 8-6
3. Stephanie Davidson/Morgan Frank (A&M) def. Tiffany Tucker/Nicole Kantor (LSU) 8-3
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,1,4,3,2,6)