It may have been Senior Day for the LSU women’s tennis team, but the freshmen were the ones who stood out despite a losing effort.The No. 71 Lady Tigers (9-14, 4-7) fell at home to No. 23 Arkansas (16-8, 6-5), 5-2, with the only two singles wins coming courtesy of freshmen Kaitlin Burns and Keri Frankenberger.Burns had no trouble after a tight first set in singles, winning 7-6, 6-0, and Frankenberger also won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. ”I just played solid. I tried to run everything down and just get it back and make her make the mistake,” Burns said.Burns said she, Frankenberger and freshman Ebie Wilson have learned a lot since the beginning of the season and have continued to develop in Southeastern Conference play.”Keri and Ebie are amazing players,” Burns said. “Keri’s won like every single match — it’s unbelievable.”Frankenberger isn’t undefeated, but she has won nine of her last 11 singles matches. Burns has won three of her last four singles matches.”They’ve done great,” said LSU coach Tony Minnis. “It bodes well for the future because they played really hard today.” The Razorbacks held a slim 3-2 advantage after winning the doubles point and splitting the first four singles matches. But LSU fell short in the final two three-set matches. LSU sophomore Whitney Wolf dropped her match to No. 43 junior Anouk Tigu, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, to clinch the victory for Arkansas. Wilson then fell, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.Seniors Hannah Robinson and Nicole Kantor were defeated in straight sets earlier in the match, 6-2, 6-2, and 6-4, 6-2, respectively. ”The seniors have been a big part of the program the last four years, and you want to see them go out the right way,” Minnis said. “We put ourselves where we were capable of winning, but we just didn’t pull it off.”The Lady Tigers will keep fighting in SEC tournament play Minnis said. The Tigers and the Lady Tigers begin the SEC tournament against Alabama on Thursday. 
NO. 55 TIGERS OVERCOME NO. 62 ARKANSAS, 5-2The No. 55 LSU men’s tennis team (7-14, 3-8) defeated No. 62 Arkansas (10-13, 1-10), 5-2, on Saturday in the Tigers’ final regular season match of the year. The Tigers dropped the doubles point, but freshman Stefan Szacinski evened the match at 1-1 in the only straight-set match of the day, 6-2, 7-5.Juniors Julien Gauthier and Sebastian Carlsson persevered after dropping their first sets. Gauthier won, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Carlsson prevailed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, as the Tigers grabbed the first three singles points.LSU coach Jeff Brown said it was the Tigers’ first indoor match all season, and it took a while for LSU to grow accustomed to the court.”They kept fighting, and they did a good job, and we had clutch performances in the third set,” Brown said.Sophomore Mark Bowtell took the first set but dropped the next two, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. The overall score was 3-2 in favor of LSU when junior Cody Loup clinched the match for the Tigers, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.”Cody Loup was down a set and 4-1 in his match yesterday, so that was a significant comeback,” Brown said. No. 51 LSU sophomore Neal Skupski finished off the match with a 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 victory against No. 65 junior Chris Nott.
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]