The LSU women’s tennis team used a heartstopping victory against Ole Miss on Friday as a springboard for its best performance of the season.
The Lady Tigers (5-6, 3-1) dominated Mississippi State, 6-1, on Sunday in Starkville, Miss., to move their Southeastern Conference win streak to three.
LSU sophomore Keri Frankenberger and freshman Yvette Vlaar posted an 8-3 victory, and junior Whitney Wolf and sophomore Kaitlin Burns follwed with an identical 8-3 win to clinch the doubles point.
The Lady Tigers sprinted out to a one set lead in every single’s match, dropping just six games combined in the six sets.
LSU held on to win five of the six matches, with the only loss coming when No. 52 Whitney Wolf couldn’t holf off Alexandra Perper, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“We played well,” said LSU coach Tony Minnis. “Winning on the road is hard. It was really impressive.”
The Mississippi State match came on the heels of a dramatic win in Oxford, Miss., on Friday when LSU outlasted Ole Miss, 4-3.
Frankenberger and Vlaar clinched the doubles point after sophomore Ebie Wilson and freshman Ariel Morton won, but the Lady Rebels wouldn’t go down easily.
Frankenberger dropped her singles match, but Vlaar pushed LSU ahead again by topping her sister Vivian in straight sets.
Ole Miss won two of the next three singles matches, leaving Wilson to battle Caroline Rohde-Moe for the decisive point.
For the second time this season, Lady Tiger claimed a three set victory to put LSU in the win column.
Wilson topped Rohde-Moe, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, to finish off the Lady Rebels.
“Ebie has been money this entire year,” Minnis said. “She’s playing with a lot of heart. I’m really impressed.”
While the women spent the weekend in Mississippi, the men enjoyed the home court of W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium all weekend.
The Tigers (5-7, 2-2) topped No. 22 Ole Miss, 4-2, in what Coach Jeff Brown called the team’s best outing of the season.
“The crowd was outstanding. There was a lot of energy,” Brown said. “Neal [Skupski] and Sebastian [Carlsson] came out and really sparked us.
Skupski and Carlsson, the No. 17 team in the NCAA, defeated twin brothers Chris and Marcel Theimann, 8-4. The twins entered the match ranked No. 5.
Sophomore Olivier Borsos and senior Julien Gauthier topped the Rebel duo of Kalle Norberg and Adrian Skogenge, 8-5, giving LSU the early point.
In front of the biggest home crowd of the season, the Tigers won four of the first five singles matches to claim the victory.
“It was fantastic to play in that type of environment,” said sophomore Stefan Szacinski, who won in straight sets. “It definately helps us.”
Sunday’s match with the visiting Mississippi State Bulldogs started much the same as Friday’s Ole Miss match.
LSU won the first two doubles matches to take an early lead, but the Bulldogs rebounded to take five of the six singles tilts an win, 5-2.
“We knew that we weren’t going to get much more than three points [in singles],” Brown said. “A lot of things didn’t go out way [Sunday] that did on Friday. That’s a Top 20 team without a doubt, and it’s too bad they got out of here with a win.”