BATON ROUGE, La. — The No. 32 LSU Women’s Tennis team fell to No. 46 Texas A&M, 3-4, Friday afternoon at ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium.
LSU dropped to 11-6 and 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference with the loss. Texas A&M improved to 5-3 and 3-1 in the SEC
“It was an incredible battle and it came down to those third sets,” head coach Julia Sell said. “We are still such a young team and we were put in adverse situations. We didn’t handle it well, but it’s the first time that we’ve been in these situations. We’ll learn from this and get better.”
LSU fell to an 0-2 hole early on in the match. The Lady Tigers dropped the doubles point after only winning court one. Noel Scott also dropped her match on court three in singles play 6-0, 6-2.
Abby Owens put LSU on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court four over Anna Mamalat.
Eva Paalma defeated Amanda Atanasson 6-3, 6-3 on court six to give Texas A&M a 3-1 lead.
Skylar Kuykendall was pushed to a third set and ultimately took the win on court three 6-3, 1-6, 3-6 to make it 3-2.
Although A&M was up 3-2, LSU had earned the win in the first set on both courts. The Aggies came back to take the momentum in the match and push both courts to a third set.
Joana Vale Costa fell to No. 46 Rachel Pierson 6-2, 5-7, 0-6 on court one. Pierson clinched the match for Texas A&M.
LSU has Sunday off and the Lady Tigers return to action Friday, March 20 at 4 p.m. against Alabama.
For more information on the program, follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.
Texas A&M vs LSU
Mar 10, 2015
at Baton Rouge, La. (W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium)
#46 Texas A&M 4, #32 LSU 3
Singles competition
1. #46 Rachel Pierson (A&M) def. #40 Joana Vale Costa (LSU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-0
2. #115 Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) def. #62 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. #57 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. Noel Scott (LSU) 6-0, 6-2
4. Abigail Owens (LSU) def. Anna Mamalat (A&M) 6-4, 6-2
5. Ella Taylor (LSU) def. #123 Stefania Hristov (A&M) 6-0, 5-7, 4-3, retired
6. Eva Paalma (A&M) def. Amanda Atanasson (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Joana Vale Costa/Noel Scott (LSU) def. #32 Rachel Pierson/Eva Paalma (A&M) 8-2
2. Rutuja Bhosale/Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) def. #48 Skylar Kuykendall/Abigail Owens (LSU) 8-2
3. Stefania Hristov/Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Skylar Holloway/Amanda Atanasson (LSU) 8-6
Match Notes:
Texas A&M 5-3, 3-1 SEC; National ranking
#46 LSU 11-6, 2-3 SEC; National ranking #32
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,6,2,1)