LSU Gold

Lady Tigers Advance in Polls After SEC Run

by Cari Gold
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Lady Tigers Advance in Polls After SEC Run

BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s tennis team is ranked No. 43 this week by the ITA College Tennis Rankings. 
 
This ranking comes after the Lady Tigers went 2-1 in the SEC Tournament last week.  After a hard-fought, 4-3 victory over Mississippi State, LSU captured a dominating 4-0 win over No. 26 Tennessee.  The victory over Tennessee is the highest ranked opponent LSU has defeated under LSU head coach Julia S. Sell.  Additionally, this is the first time the Lady Tigers have defeated a Top 30 opponent since beating No. 27 South Carolina on March 6, 2011.
 
With these two victories, LSU secured multiple wins in the conference tournament for the first time since 2004 and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010.
 
The Lady Tigers were ranked No. 53 last week, prior to the SEC Tournament.  
 
In addition to the team ranking, freshman Joana Vale Costa jumped to No. 82 in singles. This ranking follows victories over No. 56 Georgiana Patrasc of Mississippi State and No. 59 Eve Repic of Tennessee.  
 
Vale Costa holds an 11-8 singles record with a 10-7 record at the No. 1 spot and a 1-1 record at No. 2.  The freshman has garnered three wins over nationally ranked opponents this season, highlighted by a dominating 6-3, 6-0 victory over Auburn’s No. 29 Pleun Burgmans.
 
Vale Costa was previously ranked No. 88. 
 
LSU awaits the decision of the NCAA for the National Tournament selections.  The Selection Committee will announce its decisions on Tuesday, April 29 at 4:30 p.m. CT.  
 
Follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and on Facebook atwww.Facebook.com/lsuwten. 
 
ITA Women’s Rankings Top 50
 
1. UCLA
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. California
5. Texas A&M
6. Duke
7. Virginia
8. Florida
9. Stanford
10. Vanderbilt
11. North Carolina
12. Clemson
13. USC
14. Baylor
15. Miami (Fla.)
16. Northwestern
17. Michigan
18. Oklahoma
19. Rice
20. Georgia Tech
21. Tulsa
22. Texas
23. Arizona
24. Arizona State
25. Oklahoma State
26. Pepperdine
27. Notre Dame
28. South Carolina
29. Auburn
30. Texas Tech
31. South Florida
32. Kentucky
33. Houston
34. Tennessee
35. Ole Miss
36. Ohio State
37. Illinois
38. Utah
39. Washington
40. Columbia
41. Purdue
42. Florida State
43. LSU
44. Saint Mary’s
45. Memphis
46. DePaul
47. Yale
48. Indiana
49. Washington State
50. Princeton