BATON ROUGE — In Charlottesville, Va., Megan Falcon of the LSU women’s tennis team crushed reigning singles national champion Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech, 6-3, 6-3, to win the consolation draw at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championships on Sunday.
Falcon, the nation’s 15th-ranked player, dominated third-ranked McDowell from the beginning of the match and never relented as she captured the consolation title at the national indoor for the first time. McDowell won the NCAA singles title in the spring.
“Megan played extremely well against McDowell,” LSU assistant coach Lisa Jackson said. “She came out aggressively from the start and competed well against a past champion. It was a great way to close out the fall.”
The win improved Falcon’s overall record to 13-4 with a 5-4 mark against ranked opponents on the season.
Falcon’s title is the first at the National Indoor Championships. As a junior last season Falcon advanced to the quarterfinal round before falling in three sets to Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. As a sophomore in 2006-07 Falcon retired due to injury in the second round against North Carolina’s Jenna Long.
The title represents Falcon’s third in a national tournament as the Alameda, Calif., native captured the consolation title at the ITA All-American Championships in both her sophomore and junior seasons. Falcon’s victory in the title match of the All-American tournament last season came against Northwestern’s Georgia Rose whom Falcon defeated in the quarterfinal round of the National Indoor Championships on Friday.
After closing out play in both the Indoor Championships and the SEC Coaches Classic, LSU has wrapped up fall tennis. The Lady Tigers will open the spring 2009 dual season on Jan. 17 in Boulder, Colo., against Colorado.
ITA National Indoor Championships
November 9, 2008 ? Day Four Results
Singles
Consolation Final
#15 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. #3 Amanda McDowell (Georgia Tech) 6-3, 6-3