Flowers and shouts of victory were handed out as the No. 16 LSU women’s tennis team celebrated its senior day with a 5-2 victory against No. 75 Tennessee Sunday morning, while the No. 39 men’s team defeated No. 20 Kentucky, 4-2, to close its road weekend.
The Lady Tigers were off to a rather slow start in doubles play.
After LSU senior Skylar Kuykendall and sophomore Skylar Holloway won on court 3 after the Volunteers fought to a dominating 6-2 win on court 1 and eventually clinched the doubles point on court 2, 7-5.
“Even though we lost the doubles point, it wasn’t our best,” said co-head coach Julia Sell. “Tennessee is a really well coached team. They always fight. It wasn’t an easy win today, but I thought we were the better players out there today.”
The start of singles brought the Lady Tigers a tremendous momentum boost.
After No. 20 Joana Vale Costa set the tone on court one, taking the first set against Tennessee’s freshman Sadie Hammond, 6-1, LSU took the first set on three other courts as well, putting itself in perfect position to make up for the doubles losses.
“We handled [the wind] extremely well,” Sell said. “We made the adjustments we had to. It’s not exactly the type of style we want, but we were mentally stronger with it. That’s what we need going forward. They are starting to come into their own, trusting their game and their abilities. This time of year, that’s what you need them to do.”
Among the Lady Tigers strong performances in singles play, the team’s two seniors, Ella Taylor and Kuykendall, fought for victorious ways to end their final regular season at home.
After a quick 6-3 first-set win, Taylor eventually captured the Tigers third point, winning the second, 7-6, while Kuykendall clinched the match for the Lady Tigers shortly after, defeating Tennessee’s junior Brittany Lindl, 7-6 and 6-4.
Taylor is the only player on the team who’s been coached by Sell all four years.
“I remember my first week on campus, we were both lost,” Sell said. “She probably knew her way around campus better than I did. She’s one of the hardest workers and Skylar Rae is one of the best competitors out there. They’ve been incredible for us, so it’s sad to see them go, but that’s the nature of college.”
For the men’s team, the match went a different direction.
After taking the doubles point with 6-3 victories on courts 2 and 3, the Tigers lost on the first two courts in singles play.
After senior Boris Arias defeated Wildcats’ freshman Enzo Wallart, 6-1 and 6-3, then to tie the match, LSU relied on sophomore Gabor Csonka and junior Jordan Daigle to clinch what would be the Tigers first top-20 victory of the season.
With Daigle heading into a third set, Csonka defeated junior Nils Ellefsen in two sets, 6-4 and 6-3.
“The team came in very focused from yesterday’s practice all the way through preparations for the match,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown via news release. “They were on a mission today and weren’t going to let anything stop them. It’s a win we’ve been building towards since the Mississippi State loss and we really came together as a team and are looking to continue.”
As Daigle, who currently ranks No. 79 in the nation, rebounded from a poor first set, then brought the Tigers to victory as he defeated No. 25 sophomore William Bushamuka, 3-6, 6-1 and 7-5.