BATON ROUGE, La. – Freshman Kayla Cross clinched the match victory with a come-from-behind victory on the second court as No. 9 LSU downed No. 13 Texas, 4-2, on Friday at the Texas Tennis Center.
LSU improves to 17-2 overall and 7-1 in SEC play, marking just the second time since 2015 that the Tigers have surpassed seven SEC wins, with the other coming in 2021. Texas, meanwhile, falls to 10-7 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
“Today was a great team win for us,” said Head Coach Taylor Fogleman. “Texas is a program that’s had an immense amount of success, and it’s certainly a program that we’re trying to emulate in terms of their consistency. Head Coach Howard Joffe has done an incredible job with that program for the last decade. The team responded incredibly well to a challenging end to the doubles point. Our two ladies from Texas performed incredibly well in Kenna Erickson and Kinaa Graham. I was proud of every one of our girls for how they competed and responded to pressure to secure results. Our group invested a lot today to get the result. Now, we need to rest and turn our attention to a match on Sunday with the team that won the NCAA championship last year in Texas A&M. So, we certainly will enjoy this one this evening, but know that the ladies will have to improve as we continue the season.”
The Tigers opened doubles play with Erickson and Gaby Rivera facing Carmen Herea and Eszter Meri on Court No. 3. After falling behind 1-0, the LSU duo responded with a 3-1 lead. However, Herea and Meri rallied to win five of the final six games, defeating Erickson and Rivera 6-4.
On the top spot, No. 7 Cadence Brace and Cross took on Texas’s top duo, No. 27 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo and Ashton Bowers. The LSU freshman pair jumped to an early 2-0 lead before the Longhorns leveled the set. From there, the two teams traded games evenly until the set reached 4-4. Brace and Cross then secured the final two games to post a 6-4 victory. The LSU duo improved to 9-1 on the season and 7-0 in ranked matchups.
In the final doubles match, No. 29 Tilwith Di Girolami and Anita Sahdiieva battled Salma Drugdova and Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz on the No. 2 spot. After trailing 3-0 and later 4-1, the LSU duo fought back to level the set at 4-4. The two sides continued to trade games, staying level until 5-5. However, Drugdova and Kempenaers-Pocz managed to edge ahead and hand Di Girolami and Sahdiieva a narrow 7-5 defeat to give Texas the doubles point.
After the Tigers failed to capture the doubles point, LSU entrusted Erickson to battle with Drugdova on the No. 6 spot. The Texas native shined in her home state, dominating the first set with a 6-0 sweep. Erickson jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second before Drugdova battled back to level it at 4-4. Despite a fight from the Longhorn, Erickson earned the 6-4 set victory, tying the dual match at 1-1 and improving her win total to 10-2 on the season.
Holding momentum from her doubles victory, No. 42 Brace took on No. 73 Bowers. Despite trailing 0-1, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week surged for a 5-1 lead and closed out the first set 6-2. In the second, Brace built a 2-0 advantage and withstood a push from Bowers that cut it to 3-2. In the closing moments, the freshman held firm and earned a 6-3 win to give LSU a 2-1 lead. Brace now holds four ranked wins on the season and is riding a three-match winning streak.
Austin native Graham battled Kempenaers-Pocz in a tightly contested match on the No. 4 court. The sophomore took a 1-0 lead in the first set but fell behind 3-1 before rallying to go up 4-3. The set was tied again at 4-4, but Graham took the final two games to take it 6-4. The second set followed a similar pattern, with Graham trailing 2-0, leveling at 2-2 and again at 3-3 and 4-4. Graham took her first lead of the set at 5-4, then solidified the victory at 6-4, improving LSU’s advantage to 3-1.
No. 102 Di Girolami faced a tough battle on the third spot against No. 20 Herea in a three-set match. Trailing 2-1 in the opening set, Di Girolami rallied to take four of the next five games to win 6-3. The freshman jumped ahead 3-1 in the following set, but Herea pushed ahead to tie it at 4-4 before taking the set 6-4. Di Girolami fell behind 3-0 in the deciding set and ultimately dropped the final set 6-2 to give Texas their first singles win.
Looking to stifle the Longhorn’s momentum, No. 50 Cross clashed with No. 54 Meri on the No. 2 court. The freshman fell behind early in the first set and dropped it 6-1 but quickly regained control in the second, racing out to a 3-0 lead. Meri closed the gap to 3-2, but Cross responded with a strong push to take the set 6-3 to force a winner-takes-all deciding set. The Canadian native once again held a 3-0 lead in the final set; however, Meri would tie at 3-3, and later 4-4 before Cross dominated down the stretch, locking in a 6-4 win to clinch the 4-2 match victory for LSU. Cross has now won nine straight matches, improving to 9-1 on the season with three victories over ranked opponents.
LSU vs. Texas
March 21, 2025
Texas Tennis Center
No. 9 LSU 4, No. 13 Texas 2
Singles
1. #42 Cadence Brace (LSU) def. #73 Ashton Bowers (TEX) 6-2, 6-3
2. #50 Kayla Cross (LSU) def. #54 Eszter Meri (TEX) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. #102 Tilwith Di Girolami (LSU) fell to #20 Carmen Herea (TEX) 6-3, 4-6, 2-6
4. Kinaa Graham (LSU) def. Char Kempenaers-Pocz (TEX) 6-4, 6-4
5. Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) vs. Vivian Ovrootsky (TEX) 3-6, 6-4, 3-4 DNF
6. Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Salma Drugdova (TEX) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles
1. #7 Cadence Brace/Kayla Cross (LSU) def. #27 A Anazagasty-Pursoo/Ashton Bowers (TEX) 6-4
2. #29 Tilwith Di Girolami/Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) fell to Salma Drugdova/Char Kempenaers-Pocz (TEX) 5-7
3. Gaby Rivera/Kenna Erickson (LSU) fell to Carmen Herea/Eszter Meri (TEX) 4-6
Match Notes:
LSU 17-2; National ranking #9
Texas 10-7; National ranking #13
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,1,4,3,2)
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