BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (7-2) will open conference play at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, March 1 as they take on the No. 19 Florida Gators (4-5) at the LSU Tennis Complex.
Attendance to all matches at the LSU Tennis Complex are free of charge with fans required to follow the clear bag policy. The first 50 students to come to Friday’s match will receive free a free slice of pizza on a first come, first served basis.
No. 19 Florida (Mar. 1)
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Notes on Florida
Friday will mark the 53rd time that the two programs will compete, with Florida holding a 50-2 lead in the series. When the teams met in Gainesville last season, Florida claimed a 4-1 win over the visiting Tigers.
The Gators enter the match with a 4-5 record and a ranking of No. 19 in the latest ITA team rankings. Florida picked up wins against Baylor, FIU, San Diego and Florida State and has risen as high as No. 8 in the team rankings this season.
Florida is led in singles by Rachel Gailis, a sophomore who boasts a 5-2 singles record and is ranked No. 40 in the latest ITA Singles Rankings. Gailis is joined by Carly Briggs at No. 57 and Emily De Oliveira at No. 61 in the singles rankings.
Last Time Out
LSU earned a 4-2 win over the TCU Horned Frogs on Sunday, February 25, at the LSU Tennis Complex. The Tigers claimed the doubles point with Kenna Erickson and Anita Sahdiieva picking up a 6-0 win at the No. 1 doubles court while Aran Teixidó Garcia and Florentine Dekkers clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 win at the No. 2 doubles court.
In singles, Teixidó Garcia picked up a 6-4, 6-4, win at the No. 2 court and Sahdiieva won 6-1, 7-5 at the No. 3 spot. The match was clinched by Maya Tahan, who grinded out a 7-6(5), 7-6(4) straight set win at the No. 5 court to get LSU that vital fourth point to secure the win.
Tiger Tidbits
LSU has taken the doubles point in seven out of nine matches this season, with the Tigers winning every match they’ve claimed the doubles point in. The team boasts a 16-6 record across the three doubles courts and are led by Aran Teixidó Garcia and Florentine Dekkers with a 7-2 record at the No. 2 court.
Teixidó Garcia has led the Tigers thus far this dual season with a 7-1 record playing at the No. 1, 2 & 3 courts. Garcia has won all six singles matches in straight sets and has scored a point in every LSU victory thus far this season.
Anita Sahdiieva narrowly trails Teixidó Garcia on top of the singles leaderboard with a perfect 6-0 record playing at the No. 3 & 4 singles courts. In addition to her singles success, Sahdiieva has a 5-2 record in doubles playing with Kinaa Graham and Kenna Erickson at the No. 1 doubles court.
Graduate student Maya Tahan boasts a 6-1 record in singles at the No. 5 court. The graduate transfer from Israel has won all six singles matches in straight sets and is 4-2 in doubles in dual matches playing with two different partners thus far this season.
The Tigers entered the ITA team rankings this week, checking at No. 63.
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