BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 16 LSU Women’s Tennis opens play in the ITA National Indoor Championships over No. 7 Michigan on Friday, Feb. 7, in Urbana, Ill., at the Atkins Tennis Center.
LSU was drawn into the Illinois bracket as the No. 7 seed. It will face the No. 2 seed in Michigan. Pending results, the Tigers will face either No. 3 seeded UCLA or No. 6 seed Oklahoma.
Last Time Out
LSU competed in its first homestand against in-state opponent UL-Lafayette. The home team posted a 4-0 result over the Ragin’ Cajuns, highlighted by Tilwith Di Girolami and Anita Sahdiieva improving their doubles record to 4-0.
Kenna Erickson and Gaby Rivera also improved their doubles mark to 4-0 with a 6-0 set victory, clinching the doubles point. Erickson and Rivera secured straight-set singles victories, with Rivera clinching the match win for LSU.
Opponent Overview
The Wolverines opened their season with a 4-0 record, including two ranked victories over No. 5 Virginia, 4-2, and No. 21 Florida, 7-0. Michigan is led by head coach Ronni Bernstein, who is entering her 18th season with a 359-99 overall record.
Michigan holds four players ranked in the top 100 for singles, including No. 4 Julia Fliegner, No. 30 Piper Charney, No. 36 Lily Jones, and No. 66 Reese Miller. In doubles play, the Wolverines hold four ranked pairs in No. 21 Jessica Bernales and Jones, No. 27 Charney and Bernales, No. 45 Miller and Fliegner, and No. 60 Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde.
Tracking The Tigers
LSU holds a perfect 11-0 doubles record and an 18-4 mark in singles play.
The Tigers feature freshman Tilwith Di Girolami with a team-leading 5-0 singles record and senior Anita Sahdiieva with a 4-0 singles mark, with the pair holding a 4-0 doubles record. Di Girolami clinched the 4-0 win for LSU over Miami (Fla.) with a win over Vargas, 6-1, 6-2. Meanwhile, Sahdiieva clinched the 4-1 victory over Florida, taking down Daubnerova, 6-0, 7-5.
Sophomore Kenna Erickson and senior Gaby Rivera share a team-best 4-0 record in doubles play. Rivera also has a 3-1 mark in singles play, highlighted by the clinching win over UC Santa Barbara and UL-Lafayette.
In singles competition, freshman Kayla Cross has had a strong start to her collegiate career by competing on the No. 2 court in singles and in the top doubles spot with freshman partner Cadence Brace. Cross holds a 2-1 mark in singles and 1-0 in doubles. The freshman pair took down San Diego’s No. 38 Claudia de las Heras and Kailey Evans in their lone doubles win.
For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program, follow the Tigers on X @lsuwten, Instagram @LSUWTen, and Facebook.com/lsuwten.