BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (10-6, 2-4 SEC) returns to action at the LSU Tennis Complex for the first time in three weeks for a weekend of SEC matches at home. The Tigers will take on Kentucky (7-7, 1-4 SEC) at 5 p.m. CT on Friday, March 22 before concluding the weekend with a match against Vanderbilt (8-4, 3-2 SEC) at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, March 24.
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. 67 Kentucky (Mar. 22)
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No. 29 Vanderbilt (Mar. 24)
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Notes on Kentucky
Friday’s match will be the 47th time that the two teams will face off, with LSU holding a 24-22 lead in the series history. When the teams met last season in Lexington, LSU secured a 4-2 win on the road to wrap up the regular season.
The Wildcats enter Friday’s match with a 7-7 overall record, 1-4 in SEC play and a ranking of No. 67 in the ITA team rankings. Kentucky was at home last weekend, defeating Mississippi State by a score of 4-2 on Friday night and then losing to Ole Miss by a score of 4-0 on Sunday.
Ellie Myers leads the team in singles with a strong 9-3 record at the No. 6 court and is trailed by teammates Julia Zhu and Zoe Hammond, who have tallied an 8-3 and 8-4 record respectively. In doubles, Elizabeth Stevens and Makayla Mills have earned four wins at the No. 1 and 2 doubles spots this season, which leads the team.
Notes on Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt holds the advantage in the series history by a margin of 30-17, with the Tigers claiming the win in three of the last four matches. When the teams met last year in Nashville, Vanderbilt held on to win a 4-2 match.
The Dores enter the weekend with an 8-4 overall record, 3-2 in the SEC and a ranking of No. 29 in the team rankings. In a weekend at home last week, Vanderbilt came from behind to defeat Ole Miss, 4-3, and ended the weekend with a 6-1 win over Mississippi State.
Vanderbilt is led in singles by Celia-Belle Mohr, the No. 11-ranked singles player in the country who has earned a 25-5 record dating back to the fall. In addition to her strong singles season, Mohr and Anessa Lee have earned 24 wins since the start of the fall campaign and are ranked No. 33 by the ITA in the latest doubles rankings.
Last Time Out
The Tigers will look to bounce back after dropping two matches on the road last weekend. LSU fell to No. 22 Tennessee by a score of 4-0 on Friday night before wrapping up the weekend in Athens, Georgia, where No. 10 Georgia defeated LSU in a 4-0 match.
Tiger Tidbits
In the ITA team rankings, the Tigers moved up one spot to No. 40.
Anita Sahdiieva boasts a perfect 9-0 singles record in dual matches playing at the No. 3 and 4 courts this spring. The Ukrainian has been a strong player in singles and has seven wins in doubles playing at the No. 1 doubles spot with two different partners in Kinaa Graham and Kenna Erickson.
Aran Teixidó Garcia’s enters the weekend with a 9-2 record playing at the top three singles spots for the Tigers. Her nine wins ties her with Sahdiieva for the most on the team this spring and her 14-4 overall singles record dating back to the fall is a team high.
Graduate student Maya Tahan has had her veteran presence felt this season as she boasts an 8-2 singles record at the No. 5 court. In addition to her singles success, her doubles record of 7-5 at the No. 3 spot with three different partners this season has been crucial in helping the Tigers secure the doubles point 10 times thus far this spring.
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