BATON ROUGE — Following two victories against non-conference opponents earlier in the week, the LSU women’s tennis team travels to take on South Carolina at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center at 1 p.m. CT on Friday.
On Wednesday, LSU (10-6, 3-3 SEC) swept a doubleheader by beating Colorado, 4-3 and Southern, 5-2.
In the match against Colorado, the Lady Tigers lost the doubles point but won four singles matches to pull out the win, while against Southern, LSU swept doubles and won four singles matches.
South Carolina’s (10-5, 3-3 SEC) last match was March 23 against Ole Miss when the Gamecocks won, 4-3.
“This is a really big match for us,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “South Carolina is a solid team. We are looking to gain more momentum after the two wins on Wednesday. We have to take that momentum and carry it in against a very solid South Carolina team.”
South Carolina features four players with 20 wins or more in singles, led by Megan McGavock who holds a 21-8 record. Miljana Jocic is next with a 20-8 record, followed by Natasa Vuckovic, who is 20-9, and No. 44 Gira Schofield, who is 20-10.
No. 75 Ana Marija Zubori holds a 19-7 record and is the second ranked person along with Schofield. South Carolina also has one doubles team in the rankings as Schofield and Zubori are ranked No. 33.
LSU is led in singles by 19th-ranked Megan Falcon, who upped her record to 21-4 after two convincing wins on court one against Colorado and Southern. Right behind Falcon in the win column is sophomore Hannah Robinson, who holds a 20-7 record, including the match-clinching win on court four against Colorado.
In doubles, Falcon and Mykala Hedberg have been on a tear as of late, winning four straight matches, including three over ranked opponents in the last six matches. The Lady Tiger tandem has a 9-2 record, all in dual play at the No. 1 spot.
Against Colorado, the duo was down 4-1 before rattling off six straight games to take a 7-4 lead in a match they won, 8-5.
Last season the Lady Tigers fell, 4-3 to the Gamecocks in a close match in W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. The last time LSU defeated South Carolina was in 2005 when the Lady Tigers pulled out a 4-3 win at home.