LOS ANGELES — After pulling out a tough doubles point, the 24th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team earned three singles victories to defeat No. 63 DePaul, 4-1, Saturday at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center.
With the win, LSU (3-0) will advance to the second round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships against the No. 3 UCLA, a 4-0 winner over No. 64 Minnesota, at 3 p.m. CST Sunday. DePaul (3-1) will take on Minnesota at noon Sunday.
“That was a very tough match. That was a lot closer than 4-1,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “DePaul coach Mark Ardizzone has done a great job building that team. This is a win that will help us down the line because DePaul is going to beat a lot of teams.”
LSU won the doubles point, but the Lady Tigers had to fight for it. The 17th-ranked duo of Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg continued their impressive play by finishing first on court one with an 8-2 victory over No. 36 Dunja Antunovic and Kirsten Gambrell.
However, DePaul’s Anna Redecsi and Selma Salkovic answered on court two with an 8-3 triumph over Hannah Robinson and Whitney Wolf to set the stage for the battle on court three.
LSU’s Nicole Kantor and Staten Spencer traded games with DePaul’s Gia McKnight and Sandra Zmak until the Lady Tiger tandem trailed 4-3. Kantor and Spencer won three straight games to take a 6-4 lead, but the Blue Demon twosome would answer right back with three games of their own to go up 7-6. Kantor and Spencer would not be denied as the duo claimed the next three games to clinch the doubles point for LSU 9-7.
In singles, fifth-ranked Falcon earned her 16th win of the season and 81st of her career against 109th-ranked Antunovic on court one. After Antunovic tied the first set at 4-4, Falcon reeled off eight straight games to win the match 6-4, 6-0 and put LSU up 2-0.
Kantor followed right behind Falcon on court four by defeating McKnight in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. The victory improved Kantor’s record to an impressive 14-5.
With Kantor’s win putting LSU up 3-0, it appeared the freshman Wolf was going to clinch the match for the Lady Tigers on court three and preserve the shutout, but DePaul’s Zmak defeated Robinson on court five seconds before Wolf finished her match. Zmak beat Robinson 6-2, 6-1 to cut LSU’s lead to 3-1, but Wolf clinched the match for the Lady Tigers with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph over Salkovic.
Because Wolf clinched the overall match, both Hedberg’s match on court two and freshman Nicole Smith‘s match on court six were suspended.
Lady Tiger fans can follow live stats of the second round match by clicking on the link at www.LSUsports.net.
#24 LSU 4, #63 DePaul 1
January 31, 2009 at Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #5 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. #109 Dunja Antunovic (DEP) 6-4, 6-0
2. Anna Redecsi (DEP) led Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-4, 3-2, unfinished
3. Whitney Wolf (LSU) def. Selma Salkovic (DEP) 6-0, 6-3
4. Nicole Kantor (LSU) def. Gia McKnight (DEP) 6-1, 6-2
5. Sandra Zmak (DEP) def. Hannah Robinson (LSU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Katarina Milinkovic (DEP) led Nicole Smith (LSU) 7-5, 3-0, unfinished
Doubles
1. #17 Megan Falcon/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. #36 Dunja Antunovic/Kirsten Gambrell (DEP) 8-2
2. Anna Redecsi/Selma Salkovic (DEP) def. Hannah Robinson/Whitney Wolf (LSU) 8-3
3. Nicole Kantor/Staten Spencer (LSU) def. Gia McKnight/Sandra Zmak (DEP) 9-7
Match Notes
LSU 3-0; National ranking #24
DePaul 3-1; National ranking #63
Order of finish:
Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,4,5,3)