Gainesville, Fla. – The LSU women’s tennis team (6-2, 0-1 SEC) concludes the opening weekend of SEC play with a trip to Gainesville, Florida to take on the No. 24-ranked Florida Gators (5-3, 0-1 SEC) at noon CT on Sunday, March 5 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida (Mar. 5)
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The Matchup
In the series history, Florida holds a 49-2 lead in the series. When the teams met last season at the LSU Tennis Complex, Florida earned a 6-1 win. LSU’s last victory in the series came in 2020, where the Tigers defeated Florida by a score of 4-2 in Gainesville thanks in part to victories in singles and doubles from then-freshman Safiya Carrington, Maggie Cubitt and Nina Geissler.
The Gators have enjoyed a successful start to the season and are rewarded with a current ranking of No. 24 in the ITA team rankings. The three losses the Gators have had this season have come from opponents ranked in the Top 25; a 4-2 defeat to then-No. 4 Texas A&M at ITA Kickoff Weekend in January, a 4-0 loss to No. 25 Pepperdine in Florida to end February and a 5-2 defeat to No. 2 Texas A&M on Friday night.
Three Gators are ranked in the ITA singles rankings. Carly Briggs leads with a ranking of No. 61, Sara Dahlstorm is No. 83 and Anastasia Sysoeva rounds it out with a ranking of No. 106.
Tiger Tidbits
LSU fell in the opening match of the weekend on Friday night as the Tigers narrowly fell at South Carolina by a score of 4-3. The Tigers dropped the doubles point for the first time this spring, but bounced back in singles with wins from Anastasiya Komar, Safiya Carrington and Nina Geissler. The fourth and clinching point for the Gamecocks came after Nikita Vishwas was forced to retire due to an injury.
LSU is represented in the ITA team rankings as well as in both singles and doubles. As a team, the Tigers are ranked No. 34. In singles, Kylie Collins checked in at No. 11 while Anastasiya Komar was ranked No. 44. In doubles, Komar and teammate Nikita Vishwase checked in at No. 17.
Anastasiya Komar became the first Tiger to hit 20 singles win on the overall season just a week ago. The Belarus native has had a dominant first season of competition in Purple & Gold, boasting overall singles record of 21-5 as well as a perfect 7-0 record in dual matches playing at the top two singles courts for LSU.
Friday’s match also marked a new career high for Komar as she earned the highest ranked win of her collegiate career by defeating No. 12 Sarah Hamner in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles play has been the strong point for the Tigers in dual matches this season with a team-wide dual match record of 16-4. Komar and Vishwase are 6-1 at the top court, court two has a record of 4-1 while court three has a record of 6-2. The Tigers have claimed the doubles point in all but one match this spring.
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