BATON ROUGE — After sweeping UL-Lafayette Saturday, the No. 18 LSU women’s tennis team will travel to Auburn, Ala. to face 50th-ranked Auburn at the Yarborugh Tennis Center at 4 p.m.
The match marks the beginning of SEC competition for the Lady Tigers.
“We’ve been playing pretty well. This is the beauty of our schedule and the beauty of the SEC. We have a great opportunity to play a very good team. We need to come out with good intensity and good fire,” said head coach Tony Minnis.
LSU (7-2) rallied past Auburn, 4-3, last season in a four-hour duel in Baton Rouge. The Lady Tigers fell to Auburn in doubles but rebounded as they claimed four straight singles matches. Senior Mykala Hedberg clinched the overall match when she defeated Auburn’s Alex Haney in a grueling match 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4.
Auburn (5-4) features 11th-ranked junior Fani Chifchieva, who is 5-3 on the season and has claimed two victories over nationally ranked opponents. No. 35 Alex Haney brings a 6-1 record to the courts, as she runs on a three-match win streak with three victories against nationally ranked opponents. Senior Whitney Chappell makes her mark as she is 6-2 on the season and in dual matches.
Coming into the match, LSU is led by No. 12 Megan Falcon who is 21-4 on the season as she carries a 12-match win streak.
In doubles, 17th-ranked Falcon and Mykala Hedberg lead the Lady Tigers with a 20-3 record, as the duo checks in at 8-0 in dual matches after they posted an 8-3 win on court one against UL-Lafyette’s Milou Israel and Julie Mazinova.
LSU leads the series against Auburn at 23-8.