LSU’s Women’s Tennis recently played Louisiana Tech and Southeastern Louisiana, securing back-to-back wins to open the season. The program won both games in dominant fashion, with two blue-chip freshmen showing plenty of potential.
The Tigers opened up against Louisiana Tech, finishing with a final score of 5-2. Kinaa Graham and Anita Sahdiieva started the day off winning their match 6-0. The strong performance arguably foreshadowed the Tigers success for the rest of the day.
Graham lost her first match of the regular season; she won the first set, before losing the second and tiebreaker. Kenna Erickson, another blue-chip freshman, lost during singles despite forcing a tiebreaker.
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Erickson had a chance to win her first match during doubles, however her match ran past the allotted time and wasn’t allowed to be finished. The match was cut with Erickson and Maya Tahan down 3-4; since it was an unfinished match, it didn’t count towards the game.
One thing was very clear, however: Erickson was not going home without a victory.
The day resumed later, with LSU now facing Southeastern Louisiana. The game once again opened up with doubles where once again the Tigers dominated their competition. Graham and Sahdiieva won their match 6-4, with an even more impressive 6-0 win by Erickson and Tahan.
Erickson was set on claiming victory in her regular season singles debut. She opened her match against Southeastern Louisiana’s Taisia Bolsova winning her first and second set 6-3 and 7-5, respectively.
The 56th ranked player in the nation, Graham, also played as though she had something to prove. She crushed Southeastern Louisiana’s Alba Perez, winning 6-2 and 6-3.
Graham finished the day with only one loss, outscoring her opponents 26-25 in singles and 38-29 including doubles. She won five of her seven sets, showing why she is one of the best players in the nation.
Both true-freshmen showed a lot of resiliency, securing several victories for the program after facing tough losses.
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One more true-freshman played against Southeastern.
LSU’s Emma Grant nearly won her first collegiate singles match. After losing a tough first set 7-5, Grant quickly gained momentum. She rebounded well, winning her second set 6-2, forcing Southeastern’s Bogi Csordas into a tiebreaker. Her efforts unfortunately would not pay off, as she lost the final set in heartbreaking fashion, 15-13.
Tennis is played as the first to six, with the winner having to win by two. For instance, if the game is tied 5-5, then the winner has to have seven, instead of six.
A final score of 15-13 means the game was incredibly back-and-forth. While the loss is devastating, especially after all of the given effort, the silver lining is that Grant clearly plays with plenty of determination.
Even with the few losses, the Tigers dominated LA Tech and Southeastern, showing that the program is ready for the remainder of the season. LSU will travel to Malibu, California, for its next match, at Loyola Marymount.
