BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s tennis team goes on the road in the SEC for the first time this season when it travels to face No. 38 Ole Miss on Friday at 3 p.m. CST in Oxford, Miss.
The Lady Tigers (3-6, 1-1 SEC) enter Friday’s contest coming off their best match of the season in defeating No. 27 South Carolina 4-0 last Sunday in Baton Rouge. The victory over South Carolina is LSU’s first shutout against an SEC team since the Lady Tigers knocked off Ole Miss 4-0 in the 2007 SEC Tournament.
The Rebels (6-3, 1-1 SEC) return home after shutting out Kentucky 7-0 in Lexington on Friday before falling to No. 10 Vanderbilt 6-1 in Nashville on Sunday.
“Ole Miss certainly presents us with a challenge,” said LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. “They return lots of players from last year’s team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Hopefully we can carry the momentum we gained against South Carolina into this match.”
Junior Kristi Boxx leads the way for the Rebels. The nation’s No. 22-ranked singles player went 10-4 in the fall and currently holds a 3-2 spring singles record. She has defeated two players ranked in the top 60 of the ITA singles rankings this spring including No. 8 Marta Lesniak of SMU.
Rebel freshman Vivian Vlaar has compiled a perfect 9-0 singles record this spring. Vlaar, the sister of LSU freshman Yvette Vlaar, also went 8-3 in the fall season.
Connor Vogel and Gabby Rangel have recently teamed up to guide the Ole Miss ace doubles team. The two are fresh off beating No. 52 Rachael Dillon and Alex Leatu of Vanderbilt.
LSU junior Whitney Wolf propels the Lady Tigers out of the No. 1 slot. The Pride, La., native has won two of her last three matches including besting No. 65 Anya Morgina of South Carolina last Sunday.
Sophomore Ebie Wilson rebounded from having her five-match winning snapped on Friday against Florida by defeating South Carolina’s Madeleine Saari-Bystrom on Sunday. With the win, she bettered her spring singles record to 6-2.
In doubles play, Wilson and freshman Ariel Morton have picked up victories in three of their last four outings. Their three losses this spring have all come to opponents ranked in the top 50 of the ITA doubles rankings.
The Rebels hold a 23-14 lead in the all-time series with LSU and shut out the Lady Tigers 7-0 last season in Baton Rouge.
Following play in Oxford, the Lady Tigers will travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State on Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT. Live stats will be provided for both matches and can be followed at www.LSUsports.net/livestats.
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