BATON ROUGE – The reigning national champions sophomore Eden Richardson and senior Jessica Golovin were ranked as the No. 7 doubles pairing in the country, according to the preseason Oracle/ITA rankings released Tuesday.
Richardson and Golovin won the NCAA National Championship doubles title in May after an impressive performance, winning in straight sets. They defeated the No. 13 ranked pairing of Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco from Oklahoma State 6-3, 6-2. The duo compiled a 19-8 doubles record with eight wins against ranked doubles teams, including six wins against top-15 opponents.
Both players moved up in singles rankings from the previous season. Richardson is listed at No. 38 and Golovin is ranked at No. 64.
Richardson ended her prolific freshman season with a 28-6 singles record and was selected as the 2018 ITA Rookie of the Year. Richardson was also named to both First Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team, and was the fourth player in LSU women’s tennis history to be selected to both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in the same season.
Golovin is up 30 spots from her No. 94 singles ranking to end the 2017-18 season. The ITA All-American honoree finished 24-9 in singles, and went unbeaten in 15 of her first 16 singles matches.
The Tigers start their 2018-19 season this weekend in New Providence, Bahamas, at the Albany Collegiate Invitational.
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