BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s tennis team defeated No. 27 South Carolina, 4-0, on a chilly Sunday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Lady Tigers evened their SEC record at 1-1 while improving their overall record to 3-6. The Gamecocks dropped to 6-4 overall, 0-2 in conference play.
“I am extremely proud of the way our team played today,” said LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. “I think we have grown up and matured a lot as a team and it certainly showed today. We came out and were relentless from the start of the match.”
LSU took control early on in doubles play as sophomore Keri Frankenberger and freshman Yvette Vlaar cruised to an 8-2 victory over the Gamecock duo of Madeleine Saari-Bystrom and Josefin Andersson.
On Court 1, the Lady Tiger tandem of junior Whitney Wolf and sophomore Kaitlin Burns squared off with South Carolina’s Dijana Stojic and Dominika Kanakova. Down 4-0 and then 5-1, the LSU combo tallied seven consecutive games to come all the way back to clinch the match 8-5 and give LSU the doubles point.
Lady Tiger sophomore Ebie Wilson and freshman Ariel Morton made it three-for-three for LSU when they also rallied to defeat Anya Morgina and Katerina Popova of South Carolina 8-7.
With all of the momentum, LSU continued its great play in singles action. Morton got the Lady Tigers off to a terrific start by knocking off Andersson 6-0, 6-3. Wilson followed up soon after with a straight-set victory of her own, bettering Saari-Bystrom 6-3, 6-1.
With LSU just one point away from clinching the match, Wolf would not be denied as she dispatched Gamecock ace Morgina 6-4, 6-1 to secure the match for the Lady Tigers.
The other three singles matches were left unfinished.
LSU will go on the road in SEC play for the first time this season when the Lady Tigers travel to Oxford to face No. 33 Ole Miss on Friday at 3 p.m. CST followed by a tilt with Mississippi State in Starkville on Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT.
Follow the LSU women’s tennis team on Twitter @LSUwten and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUwten.
LSU 4, #27 South Carolina 0
March 6, 2011 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium
Singles
1. #52 Whitney Wolf (LSU) def. #65 Anya Morgina (SCAR) 6-4, 6-1
2. Kaitlin Burns (LSU) vs. Dijana Stojic (SCAR) 7-6, 4-1, unfinished
3. Ebie Wilson (LSU) def. M. Saari-Bystrom (SCAR) 6-3, 6-1
4. Keri Frankenberger (LSU) vs. Katerina Popova (SCAR) 7-5, 2-4, unfinished
5. Yvette Vlaar (LSU) vs. Dominika Kanakova (SCAR) 6-2, 3-5, unfinished
6. Ariel Morton (LSU) def. Josefin Andersson (SCAR) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
1. Whitney Wolf/Kaitlin Burns (LSU) def. #54 Dijana Stojic/Dominika Kanakova (SCAR) 8-5
2. Yvette Vlaar/Keri Frankenberger (LSU) def. M. Saari-Bystrom/Josefin Andersson (SCAR) 8-2
3. Ebie Wilson/Ariel Morton (LSU) def. Anya Morgina/Katerina Popova (SCAR) 8-7
Order of Finish
Singles: 6,3,1
Doubles: 2,1,3
Team Records
South Carolina: 6-4 (0-2 in SEC)
LSU: 3-6 (1-1 in SEC)
Match Notes
Singles matches on Courts 2, 4 and 5 were left unfinished.