BATON ROUGE — After a week of traveling, the LSU women’s tennis team will return home Saturday to W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium to play Rice at 1 p.m. CST.
LSU (2-5) last faced Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., as the Lady Tigers dropped a 6-1 decision to the Seminoles.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing a very good Rice team. They just beat a top-20 team in Arkansas, and they are much improved from last year,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “This will be a very good test for us.”
The Lady Tigers highlight freshman Kaitlin Burns as she holds a 6-0 dual match record and plays on a six-match win streak. The Wilmington, N.C., native notched a victory over a nationally-ranked opponent as she took down FSU’s No. 64 Katie Rybakova 2-6, 7-6(4), 10-7.
In doubles, LSU features sophomore Whitney Wolf and freshman Keri Frankenberger. The Lady Tigers’ top tandem owns a 6-1 record in the No. 1 slot.
Rice (6-3) is led by senior Julie Chao, who captured Conference-USA Player of the Week honors for her efforts in the Owls’ 4-3 victory over 18th-ranked Arkansas.
The two teams last met in 2007 when the Lady Tigers blanked the Owls, 7-0, as LSU leads the all-time series over Rice, 6-3.