BATON ROUGE — LSU women’s tennis senior Nicole Kantor will compete in the pre-qualifying round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Women’s All-American Championships Saturday hosted by the Riviera Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“This is a great opportunity for Nicole. She’s been playing very well so far this semester. She should have a lot of confidence,” said head coach Tony Minnis. “Hopefully she can gain even more because she’s going to be playing the best competition at this tournament.”
The St. Louis, Mo., native completed the 2008-09 season as one of LSU’s most consistent players with a 25-14 overall record. She finished second on the team in singles wins and third in doubles wins. She clinched a team-high of four matches, including a win at Texas A&M, LSU’s first win at A&M since 1997. She also clinched the third-ever victory against South Carolina.
She started the 2009-10 season on the right foot as she claimed the championship of Flight 1 at the Hoosier Classic. Kantor is 3-0 in singles play going into the All-American Championships.
The Lady Tiger will play against Berkeley Brock of North Carolina State. Brock holds a pre-season singles ranking of No. 83 and finished last season with a 10-11 overall record, including a win over then-ranked No. 23 Ellah Nze of Duke, and a final singles ranking of 114.
To qualify for the main draw of the tournament, Kantor must win three matches in the pre-qualifying round and three matches in the qualifying round.
First serve is slated for 2:30 p.m. CDT.