BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team will return home to play 15th-ranked Tennessee Friday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. CT.
“Tennessee provides a stiff challenge for us. Obviously, they are a really good team,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We have to regain the intensity and fire we had a few matches ago and compete better and harder than we did at Tulsa.”
LSU (6-10, 1-3 SEC) took a three-match break from conference play as it won two out of three contests. The Lady Tigers captured their first Southeastern Conference win over Mississippi State, 7-0, March 12.
The Lady Tigers are led by a pair of freshmen in Kaitlin Burns and Keri Frankenberger. Burns owns nine dual wins while Frankenberger is the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week for her efforts against Tulane and Grambling State.
Tennessee (9-5, 3-1 SEC) is highlighted by two nationally ranked individuals and three doubles teams. In singles, No. 12 Caitlin Whorisky garners 10 wins at the No. 1 spot while 58th-ranked Maria Sorbello follows behind Whorisky with eight.
Lady Vols Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota lead the nation with a No. 1 ranking and a 19-1 overall record on the season. The duo has not played in seven matches but finished the fall as the Riviera/ITA All-American Tournament Champions. No. 18 Rosalia Alda and Zsofia Zubor check in with a 10-3 record in the No. 2 slot. Whoriskey and Sorbello hold a No. 57 national ranking and an undefeated 7-0 record.
Tennessee leads the overall series against LSU, 22-12.