BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will look to get back to its winning ways when the Lady Tigers open up postseason play against Ole Miss in the first round of the SEC Tournament at 12:30 p.m. CDT Thursday at Arkansas’ George M. Billingsley Tennis Center.
LSU (13-9, 3-7 SEC) enters the match against the seventh-seeded Lady Rebels as the 10th seed in the tournament, and the Lady Tigers are trying to advance to the quarterfinal round of the tournament for the fourth straight year.
“We are excited to open the postseason at the SEC Tournament. Every year the tournament gets tougher and tougher because of the strength of this conference,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “We are looking forward to coming out and competing hard against Ole Miss. They are a very talented team, so hopefully we can play well and advance.”
LSU will be led by seniors Megan Falcon, Mykala Hedberg and Staten Spencer who will be playing in their final SEC Tournament. Falcon, who is ranked 13th, will carry a 30-7 record, including a 17-3 dual mark, against Ole Miss, and she will continue to play court 1 in singles. Falcon was recently named a unanimous selection to the All-SEC First Team for the third straight year, setting a distinction as the only Lady Tiger to receive three All-SEC honors.
Hedberg will continue to play court 2 singles where she clinched the match against 13th-ranked Kentucky on March 15 by defeating Carolina Escamilla in a three-set struggle 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Hedberg also helped lead LSU to a 5-2 victory over South Carolina on April 5 when she upset No. 52 Ana Marija Zubori 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to close out the match.
For the match against Ole Miss, Spencer will move up from court 6 to court 5 because of her solid play. Spencer finished the regular season with a 5-4 conference record and has earned an 8-8 dual mark after sitting out the fall season to recover from injury.
Junior Nicole Kantor will also lead the Lady Tigers against Ole Miss as she holds a 25-12 overall singles record and a 14-7 dual mark which is second on the team behind Falcon.
In doubles play, Falcon and Hedberg continue to lead on court 1 as the 19th-ranked duo is 26-7 on the season with a 14-4 dual record.
Ole Miss (12-8, 5-6) has been led all season by freshman Kristi Boxx and sophomore Karen Nijssen. Boxx is ranked No. 33 in the nation and is 26-8 in singles play, while Nijssen is ranked No. 69 and is 20-13 overall. Boxx joined Falcon as a member of the All-SEC First Team, and Nijssen was a second team selection.
Boxx and Nijssen team up in doubles, and the duo is ranked six spots behind Falcon and Hedberg at No. 25. The Lady Rebel pair is 13-5 overall and 7-4 in conference play as they lead the team on court 1.
The two teams met April 10 in Oxford, Miss., and LSU fell to the Lady Rebels, 5-2. Falcon highlighted the match for LSU with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Boxx.
A link to live stats will be available on www.LSUsports.net, so Lady Tiger fans can follow along.
Should LSU defeat Ole Miss, the Lady Tigers would take on host Arkansas, the No. 2 seed, Friday at 12:30 p.m.