BATON ROUGE — In Boulder, Colo., the LSU women’s tennis team opened the spring dual season Saturday afternoon by defeating Colorado, 5-2, at the Millennium Harvest House Bubble.
LSU (1-0) swept doubles play and won the first four singles matches to jump out to a 5-0 lead before Colorado could answer. With the doubles sweep, LSU improved to 28-0 in matches when the Lady Tigers clinch the doubles point dating back to the 2005-06 season. The last time LSU lost a match after winning the doubles point was April 12, 2006 when the Lady Tigers fell, 4-3, at Tulsa.
“I was extremely pleased with the start of our season,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “It was a very tough environment because of the altitude and the different surface of indoor courts. We responded well and played very hard, so I’m very proud of the team.”
In doubles, LSU’s Nicole Kantor and Staten Spencer finished first on court three as the duo defeated Colorado’s Franziska Jendrian and Christiane Pheil, 8-6. The match marked Spencer’s first action of the season as she sat out the fall to recover from injury. Hannah Robinson and Whitney Wolf clinched the doubles point on court two as they pulled out a tough tiebreaker over Ania Anuszkiewicz and Abbie Probert, 9-8(5). LSU’s 17th-ranked tandem of Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg improved their record to 13-3 as they finished off the doubles sweep by defeating Camila Belassi and Melisa Esposito, 8-5.
The freshman Wolf put LSU up 2-0 as she finished first in singles play. Wolf defeated Jendrian on court three, 6-4, 6-3. Fifth-ranked Falcon improved her singles mark to 14-4 by knocking off Esposito in straight sets on court one, 6-2, 7-5. Hedberg clinched the match by putting LSU up 4-0 on court two when she beat Belassi, 6-4, 6-3. Kantor increased the lead to 5-0 with her straight-set victory on court four, 6-4, 6-4, over Anuszkiewicz.
Colorado (1-1) picked up its two wins of the match on courts five and six. Probert gave the Buffaloes their first win on court five when she defeated Robinson, 6-4, 6-3, and Colorado’s Michala Hedelund Jensen provided the final margin of 5-2 when she beat Spencer in a tight match, 6-4, 6-3, on court six.
With the win, LSU improved to 3-0 all time against Colorado as the Lady Tigers defeated the Buffaloes, 6-2, in 1987 and, 4-3, last season with both matches played in Baton Rouge.
LSU will not rest for long as the Lady Tigers head out to Albuquerque, N.M., to take on the Lobos of New Mexico at 11 a.m. CST Monday.
#26 LSU 5, #57 Colorado 2
January 17, 2009 at Boulder, Colo. (Millennium Harvest House Bubble)
Singles
1. #5 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. Melisa Esposito (CU) 6-2, 7-5
2. Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Camila Belassi (CU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Whitney Wolf (LSU) def. Franziska Jendrian (CU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Nicole Kantor (LSU) def. Ania Anuszkiewicz (CU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Abbie Probert (CU) def. Hannah Robinson (LSU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Michala Hedelund Jensen (CU) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
1. #17 Megan Falcon/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Camila Belassi/Melisa Esposito (CU) 8-5
2. Hannah Robinson/Whitney Wolf (LSU) def. Ania Anuszkiewicz/Abbie Probert (CU) 9-8(5)
3. Nicole Kantor/Staten Spencer (LSU) Franziska Jendrian/Christiane Pheil (CU) 8-6
Match Notes
LSU 1-0; National Ranking #26
Colorado 1-1; National Rankings #57
Order of finish
Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,1,2,4,5,6)