No. 19 LSU women’s tennis (10-3) took on the No. 23 Tennessee Volunteers in a hard-fought SEC battle that ultimately came down to the final two courts in singles. After a long, intense match, the Tigers managed to hold off a Volunteer rally and earn a 4-2 victory.
With the teams being so evenly matched on paper, it was essential for the Tigers to jump out of the gates early, and that’s exactly what happened. They seemed to hold control of doubles from the beginning, not giving the Volunteers a lead at any point on any court.
Taylor Bridges and Paris Corley upped their doubles record to 11-2 on the year, furthering their case for being ranked with every match they play. Corley is excited about the way they’ve performed this season, crediting their communication as one of the main reasons they’re able to play well together.
“I think it just comes down to our communication,” Corley said about the start of conference play. “We have really good communication and know exactly how to set each other up.”
Singles seemed to be more on par with what was expected from this match. Every court featured a tight match at the start, with only one court finishing their first set in under ten games.
Tennessee would eventually even the score, but it wouldn’t take LSU long to retake the lead. No. 41 Taylor Bridges would earn the first victory in singles for the Tigers, continuing an impressive day that included a win in doubles, and Safiya Carrington was in clinching position in tiebreakers.
With Maggie Cubitt finishing up a victory on Court Four too, it seemed like the match was going to be over soon. All they needed was a tiebreaker victory in Carrington’s second set and the match would be clinched.
However, she struggled to find her footing in that set and ultimately lost it 7-2, putting LSU in a more stressful situation. Paris Corley would lose on Court Three soon after that tiebreaker loss, as the score went back to a tie. Then, Cubitt would finish off her opponent soon after to regain the lead once again for the Tigers.
Still needing one point, it was now up to Carrington or Nina Geissler on Court Six to finish the match for the Tigers. And boy, were they close.
Carrington would jump out to a 3-1 lead before stumbling a bit, allowing her opponent, No. 118 Carly Briggs, to even the score at 3-3. She would regain the momentum though and take the next two games, putting herself in position to clinch once again.
A couple impressive shots later, and the match was clinched.
“I’ve been struggling a lot win an injury, so I haven’t been able to really compete where I feel good,” Carrington said regarding her struggles this season. “I feel happy to be able to toughen and get the win, considering the circumstances.”
“The biggest thing was just for all of us is staying confident no matter what the score was and just battling.”
It was a huge win for the Tigers, not just because of it being a ranked SEC win or because they needed a bounce back win after their loss to Georgia, but also because of the fact that they are going into a bye. They will enter their next match against Texas A&M with two weeks of preparation and confidence built from this victory.
