The Clemson Indoor Classic will serve as a final tune-up for the LSU women’s tennis team as it hopes to be firing on all cylinders when the non-conference part of dual match season begins next weekend.
The Tigers travel to Clemson, S.C., this weekend to compete in the Clemson Indoor Classic. LSU will face No. 22 Clemson, Kansas, and Charleston Southern.
The dual match scoring system awards a point to each team for each individual match it wins, and there are seven total matches: three doubles followed immediately by four singles. Winning four points in any configuration will secure a victory.
Since this scoring system counts doubles and singles matches equally, LSU coach Julia Sell chooses to emphasize singles during preparation.
“I don’t put a whole lot of stock in doubles,” Sell said. “If we can win four singles matches, we can beat any team in the nation.”
Another challenge the Classic presents is the faster pace of play that indoor courts are known for.
However, Sell said she believes the Tigers, who practice almost exclusively outdoors, are well-prepared to handle this new surface.
“Teams that practice indoors have more trouble playing outdoors than [outdoor] teams do when they go inside,” Sell said.
The Tigers, who were riddled by injuries last year, are finally healthy, thanks in large part to the new conditioning regimen Sell implemented when she arrived in the fall.
“[Fitness] was my first priority when I got here,” Sell said. “Our sport often rewards the athlete who is in the best shape. Some of our matches last three-and-a-half hours, and you have to be able to sprint as fast in the last set as you did in the first.”
Leading LSU this weekend will be senior Kaitlin Burns, the No. 112 singles player in the country, who Sell described as a fierce competitor and fighter.
Burns will likely be paired in with fellow senior Keri Frankenberger over the weekend on doubles court one. Sell tries to create pairs so that “one player is good at setting up the point while [the other] is a good finisher.”
The Tigers would like nothing more than to see Frankenberger manipulating their opponents, while Burns waits to bring the point home. If they are on top of their game, the Tigers could come away with some victories this weekend.
