BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (5-1) handed the Tulane Green Waves (3-1) their first defeat of the 2024 dual season on Monday night by a score of 6-1 at the LSU Tennis Complex.
Taylor’s Thoughts
“A good few days for the Tigers,” head coach Taylor Fogleman said. “We were certainly tested in doubles tonight by Tulane, they gave us everything that we wanted and then some. Down the stretch, we had moments of fragility, but we came through in the end when we needed it most. We kept our foot on the gas in singles and gave a dominating performance. To that end, I couldn’t be more pleased with tonight.”
Doubles Results
The Green Waves got things started in doubles as the pair of Charlotte Russell and Delanie Tribby defeated Maya Tahan and Kenna Erickson by a score of 6-3 at the No. 3 doubles spot.
The Tigers pulled one back as the duo of Kinaa Graham and Anita Sahdiieva defeated Tulane’s top pair of Kristen Borland and Lahari Yelamanchili at the top court. Graham and Sahdiieva narrowly held the lead throughout the match and squeezed out a 6-4 win.
The doubles point came down to the No. 2 court, where Aran Teixidó Garcia and Florentine Dekkers faced Mackenzie Clark and Cora Barber. The pairs swapped games back-and-forth throughout the match, eventually splitting 12 games at 6-6 and requiring a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker saw the Tulane pair take an early lead, but the Tigers stormed back and won the final two games as they won 9-7 and gave LSU a 1-0 lead in the team match. Teixidó Garcia and Dekkers improved to 5-1 in dual matches with the win, a team high.
Singles Results
Tulane scored its lone point of the night at the No. 2 court, where Clark was leading Graham after three games in the first set at 2-1 before Graham was forced to retire due to an injury.
LSU retook the lead as Teixidó Garcia earned a 6-0, 6-0 sweep over doubles-foe Barber at the No. 3 spot. The win means that Teixidó Garcia’s singles record in dual matches improved to a perfect 5-0 and was her 10th overall singles win of the year.
Sahdiieva extended the Tigers’ lead on the night to 3-1 after taking down Russell in straight sets at the No. 4 court. Sahdiieva came out the gate strong and blanked Russell in set one, 6-0. The second set saw the LSU Tiger only drop two games as she won 6-2 to secure her fourth singles win in dual matches this season.
The match was clinched at 4-1 moments later as Dekkers defeated Yelamanchili at the top singles court. Dekkers and Yelamanchili battled in a close first set, but the LSU Tiger finished the set strong to claim a 6-4 win. The second set saw Dekkers drop only one game as she won 6-1 to get LSU their fourth point of the night. The win was Dekkers’ third in dual matches this season, and first at the No. 1 singles court.
The freshman Erickson extended LSU’s lead to 5-1 after taking down Brooke Theis at the No. 6 spot in straight sets. Erickson made quick work of the first set with a 6-2 win before holding off a surge from Theis in the second set to win 6-4. Erickson’s singles record on the year improved to 3-1 after only joining up with the team last month.
The final point of the night was earned at the No. 5 court, where Tahan defeated Zhu in straight sets. Tahan opened the match with a 6-3 win in the first set before she dominated the second one, winning 6-1. The singles win was the graduate student’s fourth of the dual season and her second in as many days.
Up Next
LSU will host South Florida at the LSU Tennis Complex at 3 p.m. CT on Friday, February 16.
Follow Us
For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program follow the Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten , on Instagram @LSUWTen , and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.
LSU vs. Tulane
Feb 5, 2024
LSU Tennis Complex
LSU 6, Tulane 1
Singles
- Florentine Dekkers (LSU) def. Lahari Yelamanchili (TULANE) 6-4, 6-1
- Mackenzie Clark (TULANE) def. Kinaa Graham (LSU) 2-1, retired
- Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. Cora Barber (TULANE) 6-0, 6-0
- Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Charlotte Russell (TULANE) 6-0, 6-2
- Maya Tahan (LSU) def. Jaiyun Zhu (TULANE) 6-3, 6-1
- Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Brook Theis (TULANE) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
- Kinaa Graham/Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Kristen Borland/Lahari Yelamanchili (TULANE) 6-4
- Florentine Dekkers/Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. Mackenzie Clark/Cora Barber (TULANE) 7-6 (9-7)
- Charlotte Russell/Delanie Tribby (TULANE) def. Kenna Erickson/Maya Tahan (LSU) 6-3
Match Notes:
Tulane 3-1
LSU 5-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,3,4,1,5,6)
Official: Richie Weaver T-2:46 A-52