BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team will take a short break from conference play to host Colorado and Southern in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU (8-6, 3-3 SEC) is looking to bounce back after falling, 6-1, at home against 20th-ranked Tennessee on Sunday.
Colorado (6-6, 3-0 Big 12) has not played a match since March 16 when the Buffaloes defeated Kansas State, 7-0, to remain undefeated in Big 12 play. Colorado is riding a five-match win streak after losing six of its first seven matches of the season.
Southern (9-8, 8-0 SWAC) enters the match against LSU on a three-match win streak, and the team has won nine of its last 10 matches after starting the season off 0-7.
“We have a couple of huge matches,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “Colorado is doing very well in the Big 12. It’s an opportunity for us hopefully to get some wins under our belt and get back to building our confidence up. I expect a couple of hard-fought matches, and hopefully we can come out and play with good fire and intensity.”
LSU’s 19th-ranked Megan Falcon had a tremendous weekend as the Alameda, Calif., native went 4-0 with two ranked wins in both singles and doubles.
Against Georgia, Falcon defeated No. 56 Kelley Hyndman, 6-4, 6-2, and in doubles Falcon and Mykala Hedberg crushed Kelley and Yvette Hyndman, 8-2.
On Sunday, Falcon and Hedberg dominated Tennessee’s ninth-ranked Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor, 8-3. In singles, Falcon cruised past No. 71 Whoriskey, 6-2, 6-2.
Falcon leads the team in overall wins with a 19-4 record and in dual wins with an 11-2 record. Falcon also has nine ranked wins to her credit this season.
In doubles, Falcon and Hedberg improved their record to 7-2 with all seven wins coming on court one. After the two victories against ranked opponents over the weekend, the Lady Tiger tandem is now 3-0 versus ranked foes and holds a team-leading 4-2 record against SEC competition.
Like LSU, Colorado features six players with double-digit wins on the season, and junior Franziska Jendrian leads the team with a 15-6 record.
Southern is led in wins by sophomore Megan Wiltz who holds a 12-3 singles record and a 9-3 doubles record with partner Kathryn Curtis.
LSU enters the matches tomorrow undefeated against both schools, as LSU holds a 1-0 advantage over Colorado and a 15-0 record against Southern. The Lady Tigers beat Colorado, 6-2, in 1987.
LSU’s latest victory over its crosstown rival came last season when it defeated the Lady Jaguars, 7-0.