BATON ROUGE — The No. 8 seed LSU women’s tennis team will look to make a run at the Southeastern Conference Tournament as it opens post-season competition against No. 9 seed Alabama Thursday at 9 a.m. CT at Georgia’s McWhorter Courts.
“Obviously, this is a huge match for us. Alabama is a very good team, and they’ve played really well as of late,” head coach Tony Minnis said. “We need to get back on track and hopefully play like we were playing a few matches ago to make a run here at the SEC Tournament.”
LSU (9-14, 4-7 SEC) is led in singles play by Kaitlin Burns who owns a 20-18 overall record and a 13-8 dual season record. Freshman Keri Frankenberger follows closely behind Burns with an 18-12 record and a 13-8 dual record as well. The Gainesville, Fla., native has clinched a team-high of three matches.
In doubles, Frankenberger partners with Whitney wolf to ride on a four-match win streak and list as No. 82 in the nation with a 10-3 record at the No. 1 position.
Alabama (10-11, 3-8) is fresh off of upsetting 55th-ranked Auburn, 4-3. The Crimson Tide is led by freshman Alexa Guarachi, who checks in at No. 57 in the latest polls released by the ITA. Guarachi combines with Courtney McLane to hold a No. 17 national ranking.
In its regular season contest, LSU ousted Alabama, 5-2, in Baton Rouge. The Lady Tigers began the match with a slow start as it lost the doubles point, but the team bounced back in singles as the team won five of six singles courts. Senior Hannah Robinson clinched the overall match on court six against Alice Tunaru 7-6(4), 6-1.
Should the Lady Tigers advance past the Crimson Tide, they will face No. 1 seed Florida Friday at 9 a.m. CT.