BATON ROUGE — The 18th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team (13-5, 2-2 SEC) continues Southeastern Conference play against No. 26 Kentucky (11-4, 0-3 SEC) at 5 p.m. CT Thursday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center.
The Lady Tigers split last weekend with a 4-3 win over No. 27 Ole Miss and 4-3 loss to No. 28 Mississippi State at the LSU Tennis Complex. LSU dropped the doubles point in both matches and fell into a 1-3 hole overall.
“We have had a few great days of practice,” co-head coach Julia Sell said. “We are ready to hit the road and compete against two great teams.”
Sophomore Ryann Foster clinched the match on Friday over the Rebels with a three-set thriller against No. 73 Tea Jandric on court four. Foster returned Sunday and secured another ranked win over No. 51 Anastasia Rentouli to tie the match.
With the victories, Foster improved to 15-0 for the spring and 3-0 in conference play. The Sunrise, Florida native leads the league in singles wins during dual play and is one of three players in the league with double-digit wins and no losses.
Junior Abby Owens has been a strong part of LSU’s lineup on court five. Owens is 13-3 in the spring and a perfect 4-0 during conference. Owens holds an 11-3 record on court five and owns a seven-match win streak.
Senior Ella Taylor is 12-5 in the spring and is 3-1 in conference. Taylor has won 10 matches on court six this season and is 8-2 in her last 10 matches.
Joana Vale Costa and Jessica Golovin come in at No. 20 and no. 56 in the ITA/Oracle singles rankings. Vale Costa is 10-6 and Golovin is 7-9 in singles play this spring. On Friday, Golovin defeated No. 79 Natalie Suk 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 for a crucial singles point.
There has been a recent shake up in the doubles lineup with all three courts featuring new pairings. Vale Costa and Golovin will play their third match together on court one. Foster and Owens are 1-1 on court two and Skylar Holloway and Skylar Kuykendall earned their first win on Sunday over Mississippi State.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series 19-18. Last season, LSU blanked No. 21 Kentucky 4-0 at W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium. The Lady Tigers earned the doubles point with two ranked wins and Vale Costa, Kuykendall and Owens captured singles wins on the top three courts.
This season, Kentucky’s four losses have come at the hands of top-20 opponents. The Wildcats have only dropped the doubles point twice this season. Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi lead the way for Kentucky as the fifth-best team in the country. Sutjiadi is also ranked in singles play at No. 42 and holds a 6-3 record and 1-2 mark in SEC play.
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