BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (9-7, 2-6 SEC) returns to action at the LSU Tennis Complex at noon CT on Sunday, April 2 when the Tigers host the No. 14 Tennessee Lady Vols (13-4, 6-2 SEC).
Pickleball courts will be set up on the south courts and open to public play beginning at 10 a.m. CT tomorrow and closing when the dual match starts at noon. Additionally, Kona Ice will be in attendance giving away shaved ice to attending fans. Admission is free of charge for all home matches at the LSU Tennis Complex.
No. 14 Tennessee (Apr. 2)
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Versus Tennessee
In the series history, the Lady Vols lead by a margin of 32-19. When the two teams met in Knoxville last season, Tennessee won by a score of 7-0.
Tennessee enters the match with a 13-4 record and a 6-2 mark in SEC play. The two defeats have been at the hands of No. 4 Georgia, 4-1, and No. 2 Texas A&M, 6-1.
The Lady Vols feature three players ranked in singles play and one doubles duo. In singles, they have No. 34 Rebeka Mertena, No. 39 Daria Kuczer and No. 49 Elza Tomase. Mertena, who plays at the No. 1 and 2 singles spot, is fresh off securing her 100th career win on Friday night after defeating Texas A&M’s Salma Ewing.
In doubles, Mertena teams up with Esther Adeshina and are ranked No. 39. The pair are 9-3 in dual matches this season and have won three of their last four matches at the No. 1 spot.
Tiger Tidbits
LSU returns to action after falling to No. 4 Georgia by a score of 5-2 on Friday night. LSU had a fantastic start to the match in doubles play, where Anastasiya Komar and Kylie Collins earned a 6-1 win at the top court and the sister pair of Safiya and Noor Carrington clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win over the No. 31-ranked duo of Guillermina Grant and Mai Nirundorn. In singles, Safiya Carrington earned LSU’s second point as she scored her first ranked win of the year with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 57 Anastasiia Lopata.
Anastasiya Komar has led from the front for the Tigers this spring in both singles and doubles play. In singles, she enters Friday match with a 14-1 record in dual matches and has scored a singles point in all but two matches this season. The Belarus native has a 4-1 record at the No. 1 singles court this season, including two in SEC play.
Safiya Carrington has been solid in singles in dual play this season with a 9-5 record playing across the No. 2, 3 and 4 singles courts. In SEC play, Carrington’s five singles wins ranks second on the team, only trailing Komar’s seven.
Two Tigers are ranked in singles, and one doubles duo is ranked in the ITA rankings. In singles, Kylie Collins checked in at No. 22 while Anastasiya Komar joins her at No. 27. LSU’s leading doubles pair of Komar and freshman Nikita Vishwase moved to No. 30 after a few weeks of not playing together. As a team, LSU moved to No. 43 in this week’s ranking update.
LSU has earned the doubles point in 12 matches out of 16 this season and has a 29-11 record across the three courts. The No. 1 spot is 11-2, No. 2 narrowly trails at 9-3 and the No. 3 court has a record of 8-6.
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