BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team got off to a strong start by winning doubles and didn’t look back as the Lady Tigers beat Alabama, 5-2, to open conference play at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium on Friday.
“We played well,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “Whenever you play in the SEC it is always tough. I was pleased with how we came out to start. That was the best doubles we played all year. We jumped on them in singles, won four first sets and put ourselves in good position to win. I was pleased, but we have to get ourselves ready for Auburn on Sunday.”
LSU (6-3, 1-0 SEC) started off strong in doubles when Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg rolled to an 8-3 victory on court one against Alabama’s (3-6, 0-1 SEC) Andrea Brenes and Paulina Bigos. The win pushed the LSU duo’s record to 4-0 on the season, all from the No. 1 court.
Next to finish was court two where Hannah Robinson and Tiffany Tucker clinched the doubles point by defeating Bianca Svensson and Alice Tunaru, 8-4. After the match was tied at 4-4, the Lady Tiger tandem reeled off three straight games to win the match.
LSU kept the momentum rolling in singles as sophomore Nicole Kantor put the Lady Tigers up 2-0 with a straight-set, 6-1, 6-3, win over Meritt Emery. Minutes after Kantor finished, Robinson put away Svensson on court five, 7-5, 6-1. After falling behind 5-4, Robinson won six straight games to win the first set and go up 3-0 in the second.
No. 15 Falcon clinched the match for LSU on court one by knocking off Tiffany Welcher, 6-2, 6-3. The win marked Falcon’s 11th straight and pushed her record to 8-0 in dual matches.
The Lady Tigers picked up one more win on court two as Hedberg defeated Bigos, 6-2, 6-4.
LSU will return to the courts Sunday at noon against Auburn (8-2, 1-0 SEC) who was a 4-3 winner over Arkansas.
#34 LSU 5, Alabama 2
February 29, 2008 at Baton Rouge, La.
Singles competition:
1. #15 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. Tiffany Welcher (UA) 6-2, 6-3
2. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Paulina Bigos (UA) 6-2, 6-4
3. Alice Tunaru (UA) def. Tiffany Tucker (LSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
4. Nicole Kantor (LSU) def. Meritt Emery (UA) 6-1, 6-3
5. Hannah Robinson (LSU) def. Bianca Svensson (UA) 7-5, 6-1
6. Shelley Godwin (UA) def. Kylie Adamek (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition:
1. Megan Falcon/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Andrea Brenes/Paulina Bigos (UA) 8-3
2. Tiffany Tucker/Hannah Robinson (LSU) def. Bianca Svensson/Alice Tunaru (UA) 8-4
3. Tiffany Welcher/Meritt Emery (UA) def. Nicole Kantor/Staten Spencer (LSU) 6-3
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,5,1,6,2,3)