The LSU women’s tennis team defeated Missouri 6-1 Sunday afternoon to earn its first Southeastern Conference victory of the season.
LSU (8-8; 1-5 SEC) started the day strong during the doubles competition. The pair of senior Kaitlin Burns and freshman Ella Taylor gave LSU an early lead after defeating Missouri’s (7-6, 1-5 SEC) Elisha Gabb and Madison Rhyner 8-4.
Missouri then tied it up, as sophomore Mary Jeremiah and junior Ariel Morton lost only their third match of the season, 8-6.
The doubles point was left to LSU seniors Ebie Wilson and Keri Frankenberger, and the duo’s experience helped push them to an 8-6 victory.
“We’ve gotten better with every match,” said LSU coach Julia Sell. “It just happened where all of our opponents were getting tougher as well. We never got to catch our breath and get the rewards for our improvements.”
Burns continued her strong play during singles competition. Playing against Missouri’s top-ranked player, Cierra Gaytan-Leach, Burns raced out to a 6-0 first-set win en route to a victory in straight sets.
Jeremiah lost her first set on court two, but battled back to win the second set 6-2 — her first set win since Feb. 23 against Grambling. Jeremiah ultimately lost in the third set super tiebreaker.
“[Jeremiah] finally started to put it back together today,” Sell said. “I wish she would’ve been able to play a full third set because I think she would’ve really dug in and gotten the W.”
Taylor and Morton continued their strong play on courts three and four, winning 6-1, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-4, respectively. When Morton finished her match, the Tigers had secured victory.
Frankenberger was forced to fill in for freshman Caroline Hudson on court five. Hudson injured her wrist during practice Saturday after falling to the ground.
Frankenberger battled back pain after having a disc removed from her back in fall 2011, but eventually overcame Missouri’s Alex Clark in another third set super tiebreaker.
Sell wanted Frankenberger to retire to avoid putting stress on her back, as the match was already won, but Frankenberger appealed to her coach and finished the match.
“[Frankenberger] will wake up from a nap and not be able to walk,” Sell said. “But before the nap, she was fine.”
Wilson secured a victory on court six, despite not playing Friday against No. 3 Texas A&M. Wilson suffers from plantar fasciitis, a foot ailment, and has been day-to-day since the start of the season.
“[Today’s win] kind of puts things back into perspective for us,” Sell said. “When you’re trying to build confidence, you need factual evidence, and we can stop and look at this win to see that some of the girls we beat today beat players that we lost to earlier in the season.”
In Friday’s match, LSU was overwhelmed and suffered a 7-0 defeat to the No. 3 Aggies.
No LSU player managed to win a set against Texas A&M, and Burns was defeated by the No. 6 player in the nation — Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar.
“[Texas A&M] plays the way that we’ve been trying to teach our team to play,” Sell said. “They’re the most mentally disciplined team we’ve played thus far.”
LSU continues SEC play next weekend against Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
