BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 4 LSU travels to Oxford to open SEC play in a match against Ole Miss on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 1:00 p.m. CT at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
Following the latest official ITA rankings (Feb. 19), LSU boasts a program-best No. 4 ranking heading into the season. Last season, the Tigers rose as high as No. 6 in the dual season rankings.
Last time out, the Tigers posted two wins at the ITA National Indoor Championships, handling No. 14 Tennessee, 4-0, and No. 9 NC State, 4-2, while suffering a 4-0 setback against No. 1 Georgia in the quarterfinal.
LSU holds a 7-1 record on the season and has clinched the doubles point in six of its matches. The Tigers own a 27-6 singles mark and a 14-6 doubles record.
As a result of the Tigers’ success at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, freshman Carolina Kuhl was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. Kuhl has registered a 5-2 start in singles play, highlighted by the clinching victory over UCLA’s Ahmani Guichard, 6-2, 7-6(0). The freshman also holds four doubles victories with two different partners.
The Tigers feature six ranked singles players in No. 51 Kayla Cross, No. 75 Cadence Brace, No. 96 Kinaa Graham, No. 107 Kenna Erickson, No. 114 Carolina Kuhl, and No. 115 Addison Lanton in the latest ITA rankings.
Furthermore, LSU holds three ranked doubles pairings in No. 40 Ella McDonald and Cross, No. 51 McDonald and Erickson, and No. 80 Alexia Marginean and Graham.
Cross picked up her first victory of the season against No. 18 UCLA in a 6-4, 6-3 result on the second court against Mayu Crossley. The sophomore also earned her first-ranked victory against NC State’s then-No. 36 Mia Slama, 6-4, 7-6(10).
Brace holds a 2-0 mark on the top spot, highlighted by the clinching victory over NC State’s then-No. 43 Gabriella Broadfoot, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Graham owns a 2-1 singles mark on the season, and, most recently, clinched the 6-1 victory over Tulane.
McDonald checks in with a 3-0 singles mark with a ranked victory against UCLA and a 3-1 doubles mark on the season with Erickson. Likewise, Erickson has collected two singles victories on the third and fifth courts this season.
Against NC State, McDonald and Cross struck up a partnership to take down NC State’s then-No. 2 Broadfoot/Victoria Osuigwe, 7-6(6).
Lanton has had a strong start to her freshman campaign with a team-leading 6-0 mark behind victories on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth courts.
Ole Miss holds a 5-1 record to open the season, riding a four-match winning streak. The Rebels hold one ranked singles player in No. 11 Emily Welker and a ranked pairing in No. 71 Andrea Nova and Welker. Head coach Grant Roberts leads Ole Miss in his first season at the helm. LSU holds 20 all-time wins against the Rebels.