The LSU women’s tennis team avenged last year’s loss to Rice by beating the No. 55 Lady Owls 4-3 Saturday in W.T. ‘Dub’ Robinson Stadium.
LSU coach Tony Minnis won his 200th match in the process.
“I thought we played an all-around good match today,” said Minnis in a news release. “We did what we needed to do in doubles and singles to come out with the win.”
The No. 42 Lady Tigers took an early 1-0 advantage by sweeping all three doubles matches.
After struggling in the fall, partners Lauren Seaman and Tiffany Tucker improved their record to 4-0 in the spring by defeating No. 31-ranked tandem Blair DiSesa and Alanna Rodgers 8-4.
The tandem of Marina Chiarelli and Mykala Hedberg and duo Camila Caliari and Anastasiya Dubova also scored an 8-4 victory to complete the doubles sweep.
Chiarelli stretched the lead to 2-0 after a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Alanna Rodgers.
Seaman added a third point when she handled Christine Dao 6-0, 6-2.
With the match hanging in the balance, the Lady Owls closed the lead to 3-1 after DiSesa defeated freshman Hedberg 6-2, 7-5.
Hedberg came alive in the second set and tied the set 5-5 after winning points on long volleys and hitting forehands down the line.
But DiSesa’s experience won out as she captured the last two sets to keep the Lady Owls in the match.
Caliari secured the victory for the Lady Tigers as she beat Kimberly Patenaude 6-1, 1-6 and 6-2.
Even though LSU had already acquired the four points necessary for the win, the Lady Owls captured the two remaining points in three-set fashion.
Despite Dubova taking the first set 6-2, Rice’s Tiffany Lee stormed back to take the next set 7-5 and the tiebreaker 11-9.
Tiffany Tucker dropped the first set to Medeja Egic of Rice 6-2 but came back to win the second set 6-1. She lost the third set 6-3.
 
Contact Matt Vines at [email protected]