BATON ROUGE — One day after opening the season with a 5-2 victory at Colorado, the 26th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., to face New Mexico on Monday at 11 a.m. CST at the Randy Briggs Tennis Bubble.
The Lady Tigers opened the season Saturday in strong fashion by sweeping doubles against the Buffaloes and won the first four singles matches to take a 5-0 lead before Colorado could answer. Now LSU will turn its attention to the Lobos.
“This is another tough team that was on the brink of the NCAA Tournament last year,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “We have to come out with the same focus we had against Colorado because this will be a very tough match from start to finish.”
The match will serve as the season opener for New Mexico which is ranked No. 49 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. New Mexico is led by head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz who is entering her 24th season at the helm of the Lobos. The team returns seven players with experience from last season’s squad that finished 15-9 and tied for second in the Mountain West Conference.
The Lady Tigers are making a return trip as New Mexico traveled to Baton Rouge last season in a match that saw LSU win big, 6-1. The Lady Tigers swept doubles and won every singles match except on court three. The victory increased LSU’s all-time series lead to 3-1 with the three previous meetings coming in the 1980s.
LSU (1-0) is led by seniors Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg who form the nation’s 17th-ranked doubles pair, and both Lady Tigers fill the top two spots on the singles courts. Falcon, who is ranked fifth nationally in singles, is 14-4 on the season and will be looking for the 80th win of her career against the Lobos as she enters the match with a 79-14 career record. Falcon and Hedberg are 13-3 in doubles after winning against Colorado.
Freshman Whitney Wolf picked up her first career dual match victory on court three against Colorado while junior Nicole Kantor improved her record to 12-5 with her win on court four against the Buffaloes. Kantor’s 12 wins ranks second on the team behind Falcon.
After the match against New Mexico, LSU will receive a long break as the Lady Tigers will not compete for 11 days in preparation for the ITA Kick-Off Classic in Los Angeles on Jan. 31.