COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Senior LSU women’s tennis player Megan Falcon rallied to defeat Michigan’s Chisako Sugiyama 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament to advance Wednesday at Texas A&M’s George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
No. 13 Falcon will face South Carolina’s 43rd-ranked Gira Schofield in the second round at 12:30 p.m. CDT Thursday. Schofield defeated No. 84 Katrina Zheltova of Sacramento State 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to set up a rematch with Falcon.
Falcon was originally scheduled to face California’s Claire Ilcinkas, but Ilcinkas withdrew from the tournament after she suffered an injury in the team national championship match Tuesday. As one of the top alternates, Sugiyama was inserted into Ilcinkas’ spot to face Falcon.
Falcon traded games with 63rd-ranked Sugiyama to open the match. Trailing 3-2, Sugiyama captured four straight games to take the first set 6-3.
Sugiyama served to open the second set with a chance to build more momentum, but Falcon broke her and proceeded to rattle off 10 straight games to win the second set 6-0 and go up 4-0 in the third.
Sugiyama, who fell to 20-17 overall, managed to hold serve once in the third set to cut Falcon’s lead to 4-1, but Falcon held serve in the next game and broke Sugiyama to advance to the second round with a 6-1 third-set score.
“Megan started out a little tight but settled down to play some really good tennis,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “Hopefully she can carry this momentum into tomorrow.”
With the win Falcon improved her season record to 33-7 as she earned her 98th career victory to move into sole possession of eighth place in LSU history.
Falcon has faced Schofield three times in her career and is 3-0 against the Gamecock. In LSU’s 5-2 victory over South Carolina on April 5 in Baton Rouge Falcon defeated Schofield 6-2, 6-4. Last season Falcon beat Schofield in Columbia 7-5, 6-2, and in her sophomore season in 2007 Falcon defeated Schofield in a slugfest 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-1 in Baton Rouge.
Seventeenth-ranked Falcon and Mykala Hedberg will open up play in the NCAA Doubles Tournament Thursday at 6:30 p.m. against SMU’s 32nd-ranked Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarschikova.
“Megan and Mykala have been great, and they will certainly face a challenge,” Minnis said. “If they can gain the momentum that they played with early in the season I think they can do well.”
Falcon and Hedberg carry a 27-9 record into the match against Lesniak and Malyarschikova, and the SMU duo enters the match with an impressive 15-0 mark.
Lady Tiger fans can follow both matches live as a link to live video and stats can be found at www.LSUsports.net.
NCAA Singles Tournament
May 20, 2009 at College Station, Texas (George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
First Round
#13 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. #63 Chisako Sugiyama (Michigan) 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
Second Round
#13 Megan Falcon (LSU) vs. #43 Gira Schofield (South Carolina) 12:30 p.m. CDT Thursday
NCAA Doubles Tournament
May 21, 2009 at College Station, Texas (Mitchell Tennis Center)
First Round
#17 Megan Falcon/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) vs. #32 Marta Lesniak/Aleksandra Malyarschikova (SMU), 6:30 p.m.