COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Megan Falcon of the LSU women’s tennis team rallied in her second round singles match to move on to the round of 16 while Falcon and Mykala Hedberg fell in straight sets in the first round of the NCAA Doubles Tournament Thursday at Texas A&M’s George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
Facing South Carolina’s 43rd-ranked Gira Schofield for the second time this season and fourth time in her career, No. 13 Falcon pushed her record to 4-0 all time against Schofield and earned her 99th career win in the process with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 triumph.
Falcon will go for career win No. 100 against Miami’s 24th-ranked Laura Vallverdu Friday at noon CT. Vallverdu advanced to the round of 16 with a straight-set 7-6 (0), 7-6 (3) victory over No. 4 seed Ani Mijacika of Clemson.
“That was tremendous fighting in singles by Megan because she did an outstanding job coming back,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “In doubles I have to give credit to the other team because they outplayed us. For our girls’ doubles careers to come to an end is a shame, but they still played pretty well.”
After Falcon’s match against Schofield 17th-ranked Falcon and Hedberg lost 6-2, 6-4 to SMU’s 32nd-ranked Marta Lesniak and Aleksandra Malyarschikova. Falcon and Hedberg could not win two straight games as they were never able to break the Mustang pair, and the LSU duo finished the season with a 27-10 record. The loss marked the second straight year the Lady Tiger twosome fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the loss, Hedberg finished her career as one of the best doubles players in LSU history as she earned 87 wins in her career.
Falcon lost the first set of her singles match for the second straight day as Schofield won the set 6-3. Falcon fell behind 3-0 in the set and could not recover.
The second set was back and forth as Falcon broke Schofield to go up 2-1, but Schofield took the next two games to go up 3-2. Falcon won two straight to move ahead 4-3, but Schofield broke Falcon to even the set at 4-all. With the match potentially on the line, Falcon captured the next two games to win the set 6-4.
Falcon took control of the match in the third set as she quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Schofield broke Falcon to make it 4-2, but Falcon broke back and held serve in the last games to win the set 6-2 and advance.
Falcon will be making her second appearance in the round of 16 as she also reached that level as a sophomore. Falcon has never faced Vallverdu, who has not lost in her last 15 matches and enters the match against Falcon with a 30-7 record.
NCAA Singles Tournament
May 21, 2009 at College Station, Texas (George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
Second Round
#13 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. #43 Gira Schofield (South Carolina) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
NCAA Doubles Tournament
First Round
#32 Marta Lesniak/Aleksandra Malyarschikova (SMU) def. #17 Megan Falcon/Mykala Hedberg (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
NCAA Singles Tournament
May 22, 2009
Round of 16
#13 Megan Falcon (LSU) vs. #24 Laura Vallverdu (Miami) Noon CT Friday