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Women’s Tennis Narrowly Defeated by No. 14 Tennessee, 4-3

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Women’s Tennis Narrowly Defeated by No. 14 Tennessee, 4-3

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (9-8, 2-7 SEC) was narrowly defeated by the No. 14 Tennessee Lady Vols (14-4, 7-2 SEC) by a score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Tennis Complex.

Taylor’s Thoughts
“Incredibly tough match today,” head coach Taylor Fogleman said. “We played with a great deal of poise in doubles and put ourselves in great positions in singles, but just couldn’t get over the line. Tennessee dug a little deeper than us and that’s credit to them. We’ll learn from today’s match and use it to become better.”

Doubles Results
The Lady Vols struck first in doubles after Lauren Anzalotta and Catherine Aulia defeated Nina Geissler and Nikita Vishwase by a score of 6-2 at the No. 3 doubles court.

The Tigers responded at the No. 2 court, where sisters Safiya and Noor Carrington defeated Daria Kuczer and Eleonora Molinaro. The Carringtons fell behind early in the set, but roared to life and played well en route to a 6-3 win.

LSU claimed the doubles point at the top court, where No. 55 Kylie Collins and Anastasiya Komar came out on top over No. 39 Rebeka Mertena and Esther Adeshina. The Lady Vol pair took an early lead and held control after the first few games, but the Tigers rallied back and staved off match points to tie it at 5-5. After tying it up, Collins and Komar won the final two games to win 7-5 and gave LSU a 1-0 lead.

Singles Results
Safiya Carrington kept her strong weekend rolling as she was first off the singles court with a straight set win over Aulia at the No. 4 court. Carrington claimed the first set by a score of 6-4 and coasted to a 6-2 win in the second set to make it 2-0 in the match. For Carrington, it was her 10th singles win in dual matches and her sixth in conference play.

Tennessee scored its first point of the afternoon at the No. 6 spot, where Anzalotta defeated Noor Carrington. Anzalotta edged Carrington in the first set, 6-4, and went on to claim the second set by a score of 6-2.

The Lady Vols tied it up at 2-2 at the No. 3 court, where No. 39 Kuczer defeated Geissler by a score of 6-3, 6-0.

LSU retook the lead at 3-2 after Vishwase grinded out a three-set win over Adeshina at the No. 5. Vishwase and Adeshina battled in the first set, but the LSU Tiger came from behind to win it, 6-4. The second set saw Aulia respond with a 6-2 win and extend the match into a third set. In the third set, Vishwase took an early lead and held off a charge from Adeshina to win 6-4 and clinch her court. The win was Vishwase’s seventh in the dual season and her second in the SEC.

The match was tied at 3-3 after No. 49 Tomase defeated No. 27 Komar in three sets at the top court. Komar claimed the first set, 6-4, and battled with Tomase in the second up to a 6-6 split. In the tiebreaker, Tomase took control and went on to win 7-4 to force the match into a third set. Tomase carried her momentum over into the set and went on to win 6-2.

Tennessee clinched the match at the No. 2 court, where No. 34 Mertena defeated No. 22 Collins. The two ranked players contested a back-and-forth first set, with Collins able to win by a score of 6-4. The second set was just as close, but this time Mertena claimed a 6-4 win to force the match into a third set. In the final set of the match, Mertena came out on top, 6-2, to clinch the 4-3 road win for the Lady Vols.

Up Next
LSU hosts its final weekend of home matches starting on Friday, April 7th when the Tigers take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs at 5 p.m. CT.

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#14 Tennessee 4, #43 LSU 3

Singles competition

  1. #49 Elza Tomase (TENN) def. #27 Anastasiya Komar (LSU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
  2. #34 Rebeka Mertena (TENN) def. #22 Kylie Collins (LSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
  3. #39 Daria Kuczer (TENN) def. Nina Geissler (LSU) 6-3, 6-0
  4. Safiya Carrington (LSU) def. Catherine Aulia (TENN) 6-4, 6-2
  5. Nikita Vishwase (LSU) def. Esther Adeshina (TENN) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
  6. Lauren Anzalotta (TENN) def. Noor Carrington (LSU) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition

  1. #55 Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar (LSU) def. #39 Rebeka Mertena/Esther Adeshina (TENN) 7-5
  2. Noor Carrington/Safiya Carrington (LSU) def. Daria Kuczer/Eleonora Molinaro (TENN) 6-3
  3. Lauren Anzalotta/Catherine Aulia (TENN) def. Nina Geissler/Nikita Vishwase (LSU) 6-2

Match Notes:
Tennessee 14-4, 7-2 SEC; National ranking #14
LSU 9-8, 2-7 SEC; National ranking #43
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,6,3,5,1,2)
Official: Richie Weaver T-3:18 A-46