No. 11 Women's Tennis Opens SEC Tournament Play Against Kentucky

BATON ROUGE – No. 11 LSU enters the SEC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will begin play with a second-round matchup over No. 11 seed Kentucky on Thursday, Apr. 17 at 9:00 a.m. CT at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Ala.

LSU earned a first-round bye after concluding the regular season with a 20-6 overall record and a 10-5 mark in league play. The Tigers will face off with Kentucky for the second time this season, who downed No. 14 seed Arkansas 4-1 in their first-round matchup on Wednesday, Apr. 16. If the Tigers secure a result against the Wildcats, they would match up with No. 5 Oklahoma in the quarterfinals, with the Sooners entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed.

Last time out, LSU closed the regular season on the road, picking up a 4-2 win over Florida before falling 4-0 to then-No. 8 Auburn. The Tigers win against the Gators marked the program’s 10th SEC regular season win, a program best.

The Bayou Bengals hold an overall record of 73-42 in singles and 43-16 in doubles, highlighted by 15 ranked singles wins and 12 ranked doubles victories. LSU has secured the doubles point in 20 of its 26 matches this season.

Three-time SEC Freshman of the Week Cadence Brace continues contributing for the Tigers, holding nine wins in the top spot, including six ranked victories. Brace earned her first SEC Freshman of the Week honor on February 12 following her ITA National Indoor Championships performance. She received her second award on March 5 after securing wins against Kentucky on Feb. 28 and Tennessee on March 2, including a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Tennessee’s then-No. 5 Elza Tomase. She earned her third honor on March 16 after posting a 4-1 performance over Georgia on March 14, South Carolina, and Jackson State on March 16, highlighted by the clinching singles point over South Carolina’s then-No.19 Sarah Hamner, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6). The Canadian native holds an updated ITA ranking of No. 15 in singles after taking down Florida’s then-No. 27 Rachel Gailis, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Teaming up with fellow freshman Cross in doubles as one of the top duos in the country with a No. 3 ranking, the freshmen have owned the top doubles spot for the Tigers, posting a 10-1 record with an 8-0 mark over ranked pairs. The Canadian duo’s most recent ranked win came against Oklahoma’s then-No. 84 Julia Garcia Ruiz and Alina Shcherbinina, 6-3, clinching the doubles point in the match. The LSU pair are currently riding a four-match winning streak.

Cross owns the second-highest ITA singles ranking on the team at No. 48. She earned her second SEC Freshman of the Week honor after her 3-1 overall record against Alabama on March 7 and Mississippi State on March 9. Cross earned the season’s first SEC Freshman of the Week award after LSU toppled San Diego 5-2 on Jan. 17 and downed UC Santa Barbara 6-1 on Jan. 18. In singles play, The Canadian owns a 9-2 mark on the No. 2 spot while also earning a victory on the top court against Ole Miss on Feb. 23. The freshman holds three ranked victories on the campaign, highlighted by a 6-1, 7-5 result over UCLA’s then-No. 17 A.C. Lutkemeyer in LSU’s 4-2 win over the Bruins at the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Freshman Tilwith Di Girolami leads the team with 15 singles wins, including 10 victories on the third court. The Belgian standout has secured two ranked wins this season, most notably on March 2, defeating Tennessee’s then-No. 69 Leyla Britez Risso, 6-2, 6-2. The freshman clinched the 4-2 dual match on March 7 over Alabama in a come-from-behind effort over Klara Milicevic, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Di Girolami has succeeded with senior Anita Sahdiieva on the No. 2 doubles courts, where the duo holds a No. 40 ranking. The pair carries a team-best 12-5 record, highlighted by a resounding 7-6 (12-10) tiebreaker victory over Tennessee’s Catherine Aulia and Britez Risso to clinch the doubles point in LSU’s eventual 4-0 win over the Volunteers. The duo’s most recent victory came on March 14 over Georgia’s ranked duo of then-No. 70 Guillermina Grant and Anastassia Lopata in a 6-0 sweep.

Beyond Di Girolami, Sahdiieva has teamed with sophomore Kenna Erickson to win their first match of the season against Vanderbilt on March 28, taking down the ranked pair of then-No. 14 Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster, 6-3. The pair hold an ITA ranking of No. 65 and a 3-1 record on the season. Sahdiieva has also excelled in singles, owning a 13-4 record on the season. The senior accounted for LSU’s lone point against Texas A&M on March 23 after earning a ranked victory over then-No. 80 Daria Smetannikov, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Most notably, Sahdiieva secured a clutch victory on March 16 over South Carolina’s Bella Larsson, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, leveling the dual match at 3-3 and setting the stage for LSU’s eventual 4-3 comeback win.

Rounding out doubles play, senior Gaby Rivera and Erickson have six wins at the third doubles spot, along with two additional wins on the No. 2 court against Tulane on Feb. 13 and over Southern on March 2. Rivera has also teamed with Di Girolami, holding a 3-1 record, with their most recent win coming against Oklahoma’s Ava Catanzarite and Gloriana Nahum, 6-1. Rivera also holds a 6-4 record in singles play with an ITA ranking of No. 113. Meanwhile, Erickson displays an 11-5 overall record with wins on the No. 3, 5, and 6 courts. The Texas native registered a 6-2, 6-1 result over Missouri’s Sarah Hartel with her most recent result to clinch the match victory for LSU.

Sophomore Kinaa Graham carries three ranked victories on the season, highlighted by taking down then-No. 69 Marcela Lopez of Oklahoma State, 6-3, 6-0. Furthermore, after losing the doubles point to the Gamecocks, Graham jump-started LSU’s rally as the first singles match to finish, defeating a ranked opponent in then-No. 93 Misa Malkin, 6-2, 6-4. The Austin native holds six wins on the campaign, with her most recent result coming over Arkansas’s Anet Koskel, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch the match victory for LSU.

LSU holds a 26-22 series record against Kentucky, recently taking down the Wildcats 4-2 on Feb. 28 in Baton Rouge.

Kentucky holds a 14–12 overall record and is led by head coach Shelley Jaudon, now in her second season in Lexington. The Wildcats are represented in the singles rankings by No. 39 Zoe Hammond and No. 91 Julia Zhu. No. 32 Elizabeth Eades and Elizabeth Stevens lead the charge in ranked doubles play.

For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program, follow the Tigers on X @lsuwten, Instagram @LSUWTen, and Facebook.com/lsuwten.