On a weather-filled Friday night filled, No. 23 LSU (14-7) lost to Florida (8-8) in a stunning 4-3 match that came down to the final set.
“The final court was at 5-5 in the final set, and you have to give credit to both players at the very end there,” co-head coach Julia Sell said.
The Lady Tigers breezed through doubles behind the leadership of senior Kennan Johnson and junior Paris Corley. Each led the respective duos to victory quickly. Johnson and sophomore Taylor Bridges were the first to finish their set.
The senior-sophomore duo finished quickly with a 6-1 victory. Corley and freshman Anna Loughlan weren’t far behind their teammates. The duo secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win to put LSU in the early lead.
Florida bounced back in singles. Sophomore Luba Vasilyuk lost in straight sets with a 2-6 and 1-6 loss to tie the match at one. It was like a boxing match with each team scoring blows in every match.
LSU regained the lead behind strong play from another of its leaders, senior Jessica Golovin. She won her match in straight sets – not without difficulty – 7-5 and 6-1. Golovin struck the next blow to put the Lady Tigers back up 2-1.
Another match win from Florida against No. 10-ranked sophomore Eden Richardson tied the match before, in true Louisiana fashion, a weather delay paused the match. After moving the match moved indoors, it was time to resume the back-and-forth battle.
Florida came back after the break strong with a three-set rollercoaster. Johnson dropped the first set before coming back in the second set to win 6-3. She couldn’t keep the momentum in the third set losing the final set 6-2. Florida took the lead 3-2 with only two matches remaining.
Sophomore Taylor Bridges dropped her first set 6-7, but she rebounded winning the next two sets. Bridges finished with a 6-3 and 6-1 and put the match at a stand still, 3-3.
It was all up the junior, but Corley couldn’t carry over her doubles success. She fell in the first set but followed the LSU trend of winning the second set, 7-5. It all came down to Corley in the final set.
Corley couldn’t close out the match and lost behind a 7-5 performance from Florida’s Marlee Zein. Zein clinched the 4-3 win for Florida against a top-25 ranked LSU team.
Sell is confident the team can continue to improve in the last stretch of the regular season.
“I’m just proud of our team,” Sell said. “We keep knocking on the door in these close matches, and we keep getting better every match. If we just keep believing, we’ll start getting these.”
Paris Corley eyes a backhand return. Courtesy LSU Athletics
