BATON ROUGE, La. — Three members of the LSU women’s tennis team are ranked in the 2015 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Women’s Division I Preseason Rankings, the ITA announced Tuesday.
Joana Vale Costa led the way for the Lady Tigers at No. 20 in the preseason poll. The junior finished last season with a record of 31-13 and became the first player since 2009 to earn a spot in the NCAA Single Championships. Vale Costa was also named to the All-SEC first team and earned the highest singles ranked win for an LSU player since 2008.
Skylar Kuykendall starts the season ranked 52nd after an impressive junior campaign. Kuykendall finished 30-8 overall and became just the 15th player in school history to reach the 30-win mark in a season. Kuykendall held down court two during SEC play and led the nation in wins for a majority of the season.
Junior Abby Owens rounds out the group ranked in the preseason ITA rankings at 106. Owens moved up to court three midway through conference play and held a record of 11-6. The Duluth, Georgia native provided a crucial win last season over Texas A&M’s Saska Gavrilovska to help send the Lady Tigers to the third SEC Tournament semifinal in school history.
In addition to the singles rankings, Kuykendall and Owens were ranked 69th in doubles. The pair finished last dual season with an 11-10 record and 5-5 record in conference play.
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