BATON ROUGE — After opening conference play at 2-0 for the first time since 2001, the LSU women’s tennis team reached another mark as the Lady Tigers were listed at No. 21 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released on Tuesday.
The ranking marks the first time LSU (7-3, 2-0 SEC) has cracked the top 25 since Feb. 1, 2005 when the Lady Tigers checked in at No. 23.
“I’m excited for our players that we have moved up to No. 21,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “We need to stay focused, keep the right attitude and understand that it is a long season. Hopefully we can improve on that ranking.”
On Feb. 29, LSU downed Alabama, 5-2, and beat then-No. 29 Auburn on Sunday in a tight match, 4-3. Junior Mykala Hedberg clinched the match as LSU won its sixth straight over Auburn.
This season, the Lady Tigers have faced eight ranked opponents and have been victorious five times.
Sophomore Hannah Robinson leads the team in victories with a 17-4 record. The Monroe, La. native currently has a five-match win streak and is 9-1 in dual matches.
The ITA also released the individual singles rankings, and Megan Falcon dropped three spots to No. 18. Falcon lost to Auburn’s Fani Chifchieva, which marked the first time in Falcon’s career that she lost in dual play. Falcon was 32-0 entering the match.
Despite the loss to Chifchieva, who moved up to No. 24, Falcon has beaten six ranked opponents, including the nation’s sixth and 12th-ranked players, Northwestern’s Georgia Rose and Stanford’s Jessica Nguyen, respectively.
Falcon’s record stands at 16-3 overall and 8-1 in dual play. Besides Robinson and Falcon, four other Lady Tigers have more than 10 wins ? Tiffany Tucker (13), Hedberg (12), Nicole Kantor (12) and Staten Spencer (11).
LSU will continue conference play on Friday when the Lady Tigers travel to Lexington, Ky. to face No. 15 Kentucky (10-3, 1-1) at 2 p.m. CT.