BATON ROUGE, La. — After the program’s first ever appearance at the ITA Team Indoor Championships, the LSU women’s tennis team improved five spots to No. 13 in the Oracle/ITA College Tennis Rankings announced Wednesday.
The Lady Tigers finished the weekend with a win over No. 10 Oklahoma State and losses to No. 5 North Carolina and No.12 Michigan. The victory over the Cowgirls was the fifth top-10 win for the program in the last 24 years. Two of those wins have come under co-head coach Julia Sell. The team ranking is also the highest for the program since at least the 2003 season.
In the win over the Oklahoma State, LSU used strong performances with the bottom half of the lineup. Despite dropping the doubles point, LSU roared back with wins by Ryann Foster over No. 89 Kelsey Laurente, Abby Owens over Katarina Stresnakova and Joana Vale Costa over No. 27 Katarina Adamovic. Senior Ella Taylor clinched the win for LSU on court six 7-5, 7-5.
In addition to the team rankings Vale Costa is ranked 25th and freshman Jessica Golovin jumped up to No. 40. The duo has provided a strong 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup with a combined 7-6 record.
Vale Costa and Ryann Foster are ranked for the first time this season at No. 42. The duo is 4-1 this season in dual matches. Skylar Holloway and partner Ella Taylor also check in at No. 60 in the second doubles rankings of the season.
The Lady Tigers return home for the first time in almost a month Friday at 4 p.m. against North Carolina State. LSU follow that with a doubleheader on Sunday against Maryland and South Alabama at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
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