BATON ROUGE, La. — No. 37 Joana Vale Costa defeated No. 7 Sydney Campbell 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 but it wasn’t enough as 27th-ranked LSU (17-9, 7-6) fell to eight-ranked Vanderbilt (16-6, 11-2) Sunday afternoon in the final match of the regular season and the final match ever at W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium.
The Lady Tigers and Commodores started with singles play due to rain that caused numerous delays. Vanderbilt took wins on courts two, six and five to start the match and get out to a 3-0 lead.
“It was a poetic ending for the final match at the Dub with the all the weather delays,” head coach Julia Sell said. “I thought we started out slow on a few of our courts and then turned it around. We were almost able to push it to doubles and I’m not sure it gets closer than this. We’ve played a lot of top teams tight and we have to play a few of those crucial points a little better to turn it into a win.”
Vale Costa earned the lone point for LSU with the top-10 win. It was the highest ranked win for an LSU player since Megan Falcon defeated No.1 Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas in 2008.
“Joana did a great job for us in that first set and really kept her composure,” Sell added. “She got an early lead in the second and really put her opponent away. Her win is due to her hard work that she’s put in to manage herself on court.”
With the match at 3-1, LSU looked to push it to doubles. The Lady Tigers started out strong as both Abby Owens and Noel Scott took the first set. Courtney Colton and Frances Altick were too much for the Lady Tigers and went on to take the next two sets.
Colton clinched the match for Vanderbilt with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win on court four. Owens fell to Altick 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 on court three.
The Lady Tigers return to action Thursday at the SEC Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina. LSU will be the sixth seed and will face the winner of the 11/14 match. This season marks only the sixth time since 1991 that the Lady Tigers have finished in the top six of the conference.
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#8 Vanderbilt 5, #27 LSU 1
Apr 12, 2015 at Baton Rouge, La.
(W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium)
Singles competition
1. #35 Joana Vale Costa (LSU) def. #7 Sydney Campbell (VANDY) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
2. #44 Astra Sharma (VANDY) def. #76 Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) 6-0, 6-3
3. Frances Altick (VANDY) def. Abby Owens (LSU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-3
4. #80 Courtney Colton (VANDY) def. Noel Scott (LSU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
5. #88 Marie Casares (VANDY) def. Ella Taylor (LSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Ashleigh Antal (VANDY) def. Skylar Holloway (LSU) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. #16 Courtney Colton/Sydney Campbell (VANDY) vs. #50 Joana Vale Costa/Noel Scott (LSU) no result
2. #15 Astra Sharma/Ashleigh Antal (VANDY) vs. Abigail Owens/Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) no result
3. Frances Altick/Marie Casares (VANDY) vs. Skylar Holloway/Amanda Atanasson (LSU) no result
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 16-6, 11-2; National ranking #8
LSU 17-9, 7-6; National ranking #27
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (2,6,5,1,4,3)