BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Women’s Tennis team will kick off the 2025 season this weekend with two matches in San Diego, Calif., at the Hogan Tennis Center.
The Tigers will take on the San Diego Toreros on Jan. 17 at 2:00 p.m. CT and, the following day, the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara at 4:00 p.m. CT. In program history, the Tigers hold a 43-6 all-time record in season openers.
Head coach Taylor Fogleman enters his third year, and the program looks to continue building after its 16-11 overall and 6-7 conference mark in the previous season. LSU returns seven players from last year, including seniors Gaby Rivera and Anita Sahdiieva.
Rivera had a productive first season after transferring from Miami (Fla.). She earned seven singles and nine doubles wins, and her five singles victories in SEC play tied for the most on the team. Sahdiieva also found success on the court after transferring from Baylor. The Ukrainian native went 16-5 in singles and 15-11 in doubles, and her 12 singles wins in dual matches led the team.
Beyond the seniors, sophomores Kenna Erickson and Kinaa Graham look to build upon the potential they displayed in their freshman campaigns.
Despite suffering an injury in early February last year, Graham achieved a singles record of 13 wins and eight losses, with a doubles record of 10 wins and three losses. Graham finished runner-up at the 2023 ITA Southern Regional singles and doubles competitions.
Erickson showed promise on the court, earning seven wins in doubles at the No. 1 spot, with four coming against nationally ranked foes. The Texas native was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and the ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year.
The roster also includes three promising freshman prospects looking to make an instant impact for the Tigers. Canadian natives Cadence Brace and Kayla Cross and Belgian native Tilwith Di Girolami are slated to compete.
Brace began at LSU in the fall season and is regarded as one of the top prospects in the nation. In the preseason polls, she was named the No. 4 newcomer of the year. Brace recently won her first professional title in doubles at the W35 Wichita.
Cross and Di Girolami recently signed with the Tigers after spending time on the professional circuit. According to the WTA, Cross is currently ranked No. 265 in WTA singles and No. 183 in doubles. The Canadian also boasts a UTR ranking of 11.14 in singles and 10.91 in doubles.
Di Girolami is currently ranked No. 764 in WTA singles and No. 446 in doubles, according to the WTA, while holding a UTR ranking of 10.64 in singles and 10.54 in doubles.
Scouting The Opponent
San Diego is coming off a 17-8 season with a 5-1 conference mark. The program returns three players from the previous season: redshirt senior Kailey Evans, senior Claudia de las Heras, and sophomore Kristina Nordikyan. Third-year head coach Nadia Abdala has led the program to a 48-17 record in that span. LSU holds a 4-1 all-time record over the Toreros, with the last matchup occurring in 2019.
UC Santa Barbara is under the leadership of head coach Simon Thibodeau, who is in his 13th season with the team. He holds a record of 320-196-1 and is coming off a 14-8-1 season, awarding the team the Big West Regular Season Champions. The Gauchos return six players, highlighted by senior Amelia Honer, who had a 20-2 record last season, and sophomore Carla Pacot, with a 12-6 record in 2024.
Links
San Diego (Jan 17 – 2:00 p.m. CT)
UC Santa Barbara (Jan 18 – 4:00 p.m. CT)
For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program, follow the Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten, Instagram @LSUWTen, and Facebook.com/lsuwten.