BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (10-8, 3-7 SEC) earned its tenth win of the dual season after the Tigers defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs (10-11, 0-10 SEC) by a score of 6-1 on Friday night at the LSU Tennis Complex.
Taylor’s Thoughts
“Super happy for our ladies,” head coach Taylor Fogleman said. “They battled hard tonight. The Bulldogs challenged us at a lot of spots, but our team rose to the challenge and earned six strong points. We’re very excited to keep building off this win and take momentum into a tough match on Sunday where we look to honor our four seniors.”
Doubles Results
The No. 7-ranked duo of Kylie Collins and Anastasiya Komar were the first off the doubles court after the duo took down Emma Antonaki and Dharani Niroshan, 6-3, at the No. 1 doubles spot.
Mississippi State tied it up in doubles just a few minutes later as Gia Cohen and Maddie Bemisderfer defeated No. 72 Noor and Safiya Carrington by a score of 6-3 at the No. 2 court.
LSU earned its 14th doubles point of the season and took a 1-0 lead in the match after Nina Geissler and Nikita Vishwase earned their first win as a doubles pair, 6-4, over Sydney Hrehor and Alexandra Mikhailuk at the No. 3.
Singles Results
Safiya Carrington made it 2-0 on the night after earning a straight set win over Niroshan at the No. 3 singles court. Carrington made quick work of the first set, 6-2, and held on in the second to win 6-4. The win takes Carrington to 11 wins in dual play this season, with seven of those coming against SEC opponents.
After a three-week hiatus due to an injury, Mia Rabinowitz marked her return to the singles lineup with a straight set win over Surcey at the No. 6 spot. The two players went back and forth in the first set, but Rabinowitz came from behind to edge her opponent, 7-5. In the second set, Rabinowitz took the early lead and didn’t look back on her way to a 6-3 win that extended LSU’s lead to 3-0 in the match.
LSU clinched the match at the No. 5 court, where Vishwase grinded out a straight set win over Maria Rizzolo. The two players swapped games between each other before requiring a tiebreaker at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Vishwase only dropped one point as she went on to win 7-1 and take the lead. The second set played out just as close as the first, but Vishwase finished strong and won 7-5 to secure the point and her eighth singles win in the dual season.
No. 22 Komar earned her eighth ranked win of the year after defeating No. 104 Emma Antonaki in three sets at the top singles court. Antonaki won the first set, 6-4, but Komar replied with a strong second set to win 6-3 and force a third. In the third set, the two battled it out to 5-5 after ten games, but Komar won the final two to win 7-5. It was win number 15 for the Belarus native in dual matches this season and her eighth in SEC play.
At the No. 2 court, No. 31 Collins came from behind to beat Cohen in three sets. Cohen took set one, 6-4, before Collins replied with a 6-4 win of her own to extend the match to a third set. In the final set, Collins finished the match strongly and won 6-4 to secure her 11th win of the season.
The Bulldogs lone point came from the No. 4 spot, where Mikhailuk defeated Geissler. Geissler held on to win the first set, 7-5, but Mikhailuk responded with her own 7-5 win in the second set to tie the court. With the team match having already been clinched, the two contested a third set super tiebreaker. Mikhailuk took the lead in the tiebreaker, but Geissler battled back with four straight points to tie it at 9-9. Geissler claimed the next point, but Mikhailuk won the following three to win the tiebreaker, 12-10, and finalize the team score at 6-1 in favor of the hosts.
Up Next
LSU will host its final home match of the regular season at noon CT on Sunday, April 8 against Ole Miss. Graduate student Mia Rabinowitz and seniors Safiya Carrington, Maggie Cubitt and Nina Geissler will be recognized 15 minutes before the start of the match for a special senior day ceremony.
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#52 LSU 6, Mississippi State 1
Singles competition
- #22 Anastasiya Komar (LSU) def. #104 Emma Antonaki (MS) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
- #31 Kylie Collins (LSU) def. Gia Cohen (MS) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Safiya Carrington (LSU) def. Dharani Niroshan (MS) 6-2, 6-4
- Alexandra Mikhailuk (MS) def. Nina Geissler (LSU) 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (12-10)
- Nikita Vishwase (LSU) def. Maria Rizzolo (MS) 7-6 (7-1), 7-5
- Mia Rabinowitz (LSU) def. Emily Surcey (MS) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles competition
- #7 Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar (LSU) def. Emma Antonaki/Dharani Niroshan (MS) 6-3
- Gia Cohen/Maddie Bemisderfer (MS) def. #72 Noor Carrington/Safiya Carrington (LSU) 6-3
- Nina Geissler/Nikita Vishwase (LSU) def. Sydney Hrehor/Alexandra Mikhailuk (MS) 6-4
Match Notes:
Mississippi State 10-11, 0-10 SEC
LSU 10-8, 3-7 SEC; National ranking #52
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,6,5,1,2,4)
Official: Richie Weaver T-3:18