BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 5 LSU women’s tennis team opened its week with a 6-1 result over Tulane on Monday evening at the LSU Tennis Complex.
LSU improves to 5-0 on the season while Tulane drops to 1-4.
“We had a good day today,” said head coach Taylor Fogleman. “I really appreciate the rivalry that we have had with Tulane throughout the years in a lot of different sports. On aggregate, our ladies performed well today. As the season progresses, we’ve had some individuals early on who haven’t seen as many appearances as we’d like, while others have logged significant minutes and need some rest. Today’s match provided a great opportunity to address both of those needs. To the girls who performed today, I believe they performed very well, and we will take the result against a well-coached Tulane squad.
When asked about the short week, coach Fogleman added, “Now, we turn our attention to a trip to the ITA National Indoor Team Championships this weekend. It’s a prestigious event featuring the best teams in the country, so the girls will need to recover quickly and get back to work ahead of our first match.”
The pairing of Carolina Kuhl and Alexia Marginean opened doubles play on the No. 3 court against Tulane’s Micah Pierce and Delanie Tribby. The Tiger pairing left no doubt in the lone set after posting a 6-0 set sweep.
Florentine Dekkers and Kenna Erickson look to clinch the doubles point on the second spot over Leigh Van Zyl and Diana Badalyan. After dropping the first two games, Dekkers and Erickson posted a dominant finish after earning a 6-2 set win and the doubles point for the Tigers.
No. 78 Addison Lanton opened singles play on the third spot against Van Zyl. After taking a 2-1 lead early, Lanton surged ahead to claim the opening set with a dominant 6-1 win. Carrying the momentum into the second set, Lanton quickly took the first game. Van Zyl would steal a game before the freshman closed out the set with another 6-1 victory to give LSU a 2-0 lead.
Kuhl was up next for the Tigers on the top spot against Campbell Ricci The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week wasted no time, earning a commanding 6-0 victory in the opening set. In the second set, Kuhl jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Ricci evened the set. After the match was later tied at 2-2, Kuhl captured the final four games for a 6-2 result to give LSU a 3-0 advantage.
In a position to clinch the victory, Erickson challenged Natalia Fantini on the No. 5 court. Erickson fell to a 3-1 deficit in the lone set before the junior earned the final five games to secure a 6-3 opening set win. In a back-and-forth start to the second set with consecutive ties, Erickson took four straight games to post a 6-2 set win to clinch the 4-0 victory for LSU.
As singles play continued, Dekkers battled Summer Chandler on the second court. Dekkers fought back to even the first set at 2-2 and later took a brief 4-3 lead, but Chandler closed out the set, 6-4. In the second set, Dekkers stayed within striking distance before Chandler pulled away late to secure another 6-4 win to alter the match score to 4-1.
Looking to respond for the Tigers, Marginean faced off with Badalyan on the No. 6 court. After falling behind early, Marginean battled back to take a 3-2 lead and continued to build momentum, pushing ahead to a 5-3 advantage before closing out the opening set with a 6-4 win. In the second set, Marginean jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Badalyan made a late rally to make the score 5-4. Afterward, Marginean stayed composed and sealed the match with another 6-4 victory to extend LSU’s lead to 5-1.
In the final match of the day, No. 81 Graham battled Pierce on the fourth court. Graham built an early 3-1 lead in the opening set and continued to apply pressure, extending the advantage to 5-2 before closing out the set with a 6-3 result. In the second set, Graham trailed early but fought back to even the score at 4-4 and later 5-5 before Pierce edged out the set, 7-5. The match was decided in a third-set 10-point tiebreak, where Graham fell behind early at 1-4 and later 5-8, but rallied to even things at 9-9 before sealing an 11-9 victory to give LSU the 6-1 win.
Up Next
LSU travels to Illinois to compete at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships from Feb. 6-10. The match draw will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program, follow the Tigers on X @lsuwten, Instagram @LSUWTen, and Facebook.com/lsuwten.
LSU vs Tulane
Feb 2, 2026 at Baton Rouge, LA
LSU Tennis Complex
#5 LSU 6, Tulane 1
Singles competition
1. Carolina Kuhl (LSU) def. Campbell Ricci (TULW) 6-0, 6-2
2. Florentine Dekkers (LSU) fell to Summer Chandler (TULW) 4-6, 4-6
3. #78 Addison Lanton (LSU) def. Leigh Van Zyl (TULW) 6-1, 6-1
4. #81 Kinaa Graham (LSU) def. Micah Pierce (TULW) 6-3, 5-7, 11-9
5. Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Natalia Fantini (TULW) 6-3, 6-2
6. Alexia Marginean (LSU) def. Diana Badalyan (TULW) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Kinaa Graham/Addison Lanton (LSU) vs. Summer Chandler/Campbell Ricci (TULW) 3-4, unfinished
2. Florentine Dekkers/Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Diana Badalyan/Leigh Van Zyl (TULW) 6-2
3. Carolina Kuhl/Alexia Marginean (LSU) def. Micah Pierce/Delanie Tribby (TULW) 6-0
Match Notes:
LSU 5-0; National ranking #5
Tulane 1-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,1,5,2,6,4)
Official: Richie Weaver