BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team will travel west for the second consecutive season as it battles Long Beach State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA announced Tuesday.
LSU and Long Beach State will square off at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. at the Taube Family Tennis Center. Stanford will play host to the regional and will duel Wichita State in the first round at 2 p.m. after the LSU-Long Beach State match.
Should LSU advance past Long Beach State, the Lady Tigers will face the winner of Stanford-Wichita State Sunday in a second round match slated for 3 p.m.
“We’re really excited to make the tournament again and to have this opportunity. We’re really fired up about going out to Stanford,” said head coach Tony Minnis. “Long Beach is a very good team. We beat them in a very tight match last year. We have to focus on getting momentum back and getting back in the right mindset to compete well against Long Beach.”
The Lady Tigers enter the NCAA tournament with a 13-10 overall record and 3-7 record in the Southeastern Conference. The team checked in at No. 25 in the latest polls released Tuesday by the Campbell/ITA Rankings.
Senior Megan Falcon leads the Lady Tigers in singles as she runs on a 31-7 season record and 96-17 career record. Falcon is just one win away from tying for eighth on the LSU all-time wins list.
In doubles, Falcon and partner Mykala Hedberg bring a 26-8 record to the courts. The duo has claimed eight victories over nationally-ranked opponents.
Long Beach State boasts an 18-7 overall record and is fresh-off of capturing the sixth-consecutive Big West championship with an 8-0 conference record. The 49ers feature senior Hannah Grady as she is 20-5 on court one.
LSU faced Long Beach State last season in Long Beach, Calif. where the Lady Tigers knocked off the 49ers, 6-1.
Thirteenth-ranked Stanford carries a 17-4 season record and 6-2 conference record in the Pac-10 while Wichita State holds a 21-5 overall record and is undefeated in the Missouri Valley Conference with an 8-0 record.
LSU is making its 15th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 14th in the last 15 years. Last season, LSU traveled to Berkeley, Calif. where the Lady Tigers defeated Washington State, 4-0, in the first round and then fell to then-ranked No. 8 California, 0-4, in the second round.
Rank Team
1. Northwestern
2. Georgia
3. Duke
4. Baylor
5. Notre Dame
6. Miami (Florida)
7. Southern California
8. Georgia Tech
9. California
10. Tennessee
11. UCLA
12. Clemson
13. Stanford
14. Arkansas
15. Florida
16. Fresno State
17. Michigan
18. Florida State
19. Vanderbilt
20. North Carolina
21. Mississippi
22. South Carolina
23. SMU
24. Alabama
25. LSU