NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fresh off of a 4-3 victory over No. 26 Kentucky, the 18th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team (14-5, 3-2 SEC) returns to action at noon Saturday against seventh-ranked Vanderbilt (9-4, 2-2 SEC) at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center.
“I thought we had a really tight match with them last year,” LSU co-head coach Julia Sell said. “We had some opportunities to sneak in there and get the win. I think right now I am focused with our team on making sure we are playing our game and dictating play the way we want to play tennis. This team has not played its best tennis yet.”
Against the Wildcats on Thursday, senior Skylar Kuykendall clinched the match for the Lady Tigers on court four. After falling into a 3-0 hole in the deciding third set, Kuykendall gutted out the 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 win over Akville Parazinskaite. Kuykendall improved to 10-7 this spring and 2-2 in conference matches with the victory.
Once again, Abby Owens and Ella Taylor provided crucial wins for LSU on courts five and six. Owens has won eight matches in a row and is 14-3 and a perfect 5-0 in conference. Taylor improved to 13-5 this spring and 3-1 in conference. The senior is now 7-3 in her last 10 matches.
Junior Joana Vale Costa found her groove again on court one for her first SEC win of the season. After dropping the first set 6-7, Vale Costa blanked Justina Mikuskyte 6-0, 6-1 to even LSU’s match.
A large part of LSU’s success this season has come on courts four through six. The Lady Tigers are a perfect 16-0 on court four and combined 26-9 on five and six.
The Commodores are coming off of a 6-1 win over No. 14 Texas A&M Thursday. The Aggies’ lone point came off of doubles play and Vanderbilt took four of six singles courts in two sets.
Vanderbilt features three singles players ranked in the top 30. Against the Aggies, No. 33 Astra Sharma played on court one for the first time this season and earned her eighth win of dual play. Sydney Campbell (24) and Frances Altick (16) round out the group of ranked Commodores on courts two and three respectively.
Vanderbilt leads the all-time series against the Lady Tigers 24-14. LSU is seeking its first win against the Commodores since the 1997 season. Last season, LSU fell to eight-ranked Vanderbilt, 5-1, in the final match at W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium.
For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program, follow the Lady Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten and @LSUJuliaSell, on Instagram @LSUWTen and at www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.