BATON ROUGE – The LSU Lady Tiger tennis team dropped a hard-fought match to No. 23 Tulsa on Friday afternoon at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The loss ended the Lady Tigers’ five-match win streak and dropped their overall record to 7-7.
“We fought really hard out there today,” said LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. “It was a very quality match. I give tons of credit to Tulsa. They played really well today, especially in doubles. We are going to take a few days off and get ready for Colorado on Wednesday.”
The Golden Hurricane got off to a fast start in doubles play. Tulsa’s Bonny Davidson and Michelle Farley took a quick 3-1 lead on LSU’s Ebie Wilson and Ariel Morton. The Lady Tiger duo was never able to fight back as they fell 8-4.
The Lady Tiger pair of sophomore Keri Frankenberger and freshman Yvette Vlaar found themselves in a similar 3-1 hole early in their match on Court 2. They were able to come back to tie the match at 6-6, but the Golden Hurricane tandem of Ewa Szatkowska and Anastasia Erofeeva took the last two games to come away with the win 8-6 and give the doubles point to Tulsa.
LSU’s Whitney Wolf and Kaitlin Burns took a 3-2 lead in their match against Jo-Anne Karaitiana and Alexandra Kichoutkin. However, the Golden Hurricane combo responded to take a 4-3 lead and never let the lead go on their way to an 8-5 victory and a sweep of the doubles matches.
Wilson opened up singles action by taking her match against Tulsa’s Farley 6-1, 6-0. The win extended her singles match win streak to five and improved her spring singles record to 10-2.
After dropping a tough first set 7-5, LSU’s Burns found herself tied at 3-3 with Erofeeva. The Lady Tiger sophomore appeared to have the momentum and on her way to forcing a third set, but the Golden Hurricane junior would not give in as she went on to take the set 6-4 and the match 7-5, 6-4.
Frankenberger and Tulsa’s Szatkowska found themselves tied at 4-4 in the first set before the Lady Tiger from Gainesville, Fla., took the last two games to pick up the set 6-4. The second set was not nearly as close as Frankenberger built a 5-1 and went on to the 6-4, 6-3 win.
With the overall match knotted at 2-2, the match would be decided in the final three singles matches. LSU’s Wolf dropped her first set to Kichoutkin 6-3, but the Lady Tiger junior rebounded to clinch the second set 6-2 and send the match to a third set. With the crowd coming alive, all of the momentum appeared to be with the LSU ace. However, after falling behind early in the deciding set, Wolf was unable to put forth a comeback and ended up losing 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Despite Wolf’s loss on Court 1, the Lady Tigers still looked to be in good shape as Vlaar maintained a 5-2 lead in her final set with the Tulsa freshman Vickers and Morton was tied at 2-2 in her final set with Karaitiana on Court 6. Once again, though, as it seemed the momentum rested on the Lady Tigers’ side, Tulsa refused to go down.
Vlaar could never close out her match as she dropped the next five games to Vickers and lost the match 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 to allow the Golden Hurricane to clinch the overall match. After building a 4-2 lead, Morton similarly could not finish off her opponent, losing the final four games to fall 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
The Lady Tigers will take the weekend off and return to action when they host a doubleheader on Wednesday against Colorado and Southern. The Colorado match is scheduled for 3 p.m. with the matchup against Southern following at 7 p.m. CDT.
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No. 23 Tulsa 5, LSU 2
March 18, 2011 at Baton Rouge, La.
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium
Singles
1. Alexandra Kichoutkin (TULSA) def. #56 Whitney Wolf (LSU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
2. Anastasia Erofeeva (TULSA) def. Kaitlin Burns (LSU) 7-5, 6-4
3. Ebie Wilson (LSU) def. Michelle Farley (TULSA) 6-1, 6-0
4. Keri Frankenberger (LSU) def. Ewa Szatkowska (TULSA) 6-4, 6-3
5. Sam Vickers (TULSA) def. Yvette Vlaar (LSU) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
6. Jo-Anne Karaitiana (TULSA) def. Ariel Morton (LSU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Jo-Anne Karaitiana/Alexandra Kichoutkin (TULSA) def. Whitney Wolf/Kaitlin Burns (LSU) 8-5
2. Ewa Szatkowska/Anastasia Erofeeva (TULSA) def. Keri Frankenberger/Yvette Vlaar (LSU) 8-6
3. Bonny Davidson/Michelle Farley (TULSA) def. Ebie Wilson/Ariel Morton (LSU) 8-4
Order of Finish
Singles: 3,2,4,1,5,6
Doubles: 3,2,1
Team Records
Tulsa: 15-2 (2-0 in Conference USA)
LSU: 7-7 (3-1 in SEC)
Match Notes
The match was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. but was moved up to 1 p.m. CDT to accommodate Tulsa’s travel plans.