The LSU women’s tennis team failed to claw its way back from an early deficit Sunday in a 5-2 loss to Texas A&M in the Lady Tigers’ first home match of the season.
“Our effort was really good, but [Texas A&M] just played really well,” said LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. “They’re really, really good at the top. Those top two girls are about as good of a one-two punch as you’ll find in the country.”
That one-two punch is Texas A&M’s pair of juniors, No. 11 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar and No. 61 Sun Wen, who didn’t drop a set in doubles or singles Sunday.
The No. 30 Aggies (2-1) took the doubles point to claim an early 1-0 lead, snatching all three matchups from the No. 65 Lady Tigers (1-1).
“That definitely hurt,” Minnis said. “The bad part about it is that we were up on every court in doubles, but we couldn’t keep it going. We just have to keep working and try to get better at doubles.”
In singles play, LSU senior Olivia Howlett quickly fell 6-4, 6-1, in straight sets to
Sanchez-Quintanar.
Junior Kaitlin Burns was the next to fall, losing 7-5, 6-1, to Wen, giving the Aggies a 3-0 advantage.
Junior Keri Frankenberger notched the first point for the Lady Tigers with a 6-4, 6-4, victory over Janine Erasmus, but the win would prove too late.
Texas A&M’s No. 105-ranked Nazari Urbina sealed the match for the Aggies with a 6-3, 6-3, defeat of LSU senior Whitney Wolf.
Wolf previously won 11 of her last 14 matches for the Lady Tigers dating back to last fall.
LSU sophomore Yvette Vlaar fought back to secure the only
other point for the Lady Tigers after the loss had already been sealed. Vlaar dropped the first set, 4-6, before rallying back in the final two sets to claim a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, victory.
Despite the tough loss Sunday, Minnis said it’s still early, and his team has much room to grow.
“It’s the very beginning of a long season,” Minnis said. “I feel like we have a very good team. We just have to keep getting better and gaining confidence.”
The Lady Tigers will host No. 69 Rice on Tuesday.
LSU has an extended stretch of home matches including in-state opponents Southern and Tulane before opening Southeastern
Conference play March 2 with a visit to No. 71 Kentucky.
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Contact Spencer Hutchinson at [email protected]