The No. 19 LSU women’s tennis team looks to bounce back from its first home loss of the season as it faces Tulane today at 3 p.m. and the University of New Orleans at 5 p.m. in the LSU Tennis Complex.
It didn’t end well the last time the Lady Tigers (8-3) took to their home court on Feb. 14.
After beginning the season with a road slate filled with tournament play, LSU co-head coach Julia Sell said the team suffered both mental and physical fatigue. Despite the tough loss against South Alabama, the Lady Tigers’ squad remains determined. After using 10 days to rest and build fitness, LSU approaches the doubleheader ready and confident.
“We still worked out really hard this week,” said senior Ella Taylor. “We ran stadiums and did sprints on the courts. We kind of pushed it a little bit because we know it’s one of the only weeks we can do more fitness, since we didn’t have any matches. We made all the times we wanted in sprints, so I think we’re ready to play again now.”
Improving in doubles has been a main focus this season. After almost being swept in doubles play against South Alabama, LSU worked on becoming decisive and aggressive at the net and baseline.
“We’re getting back to playing doubles the way we want to play doubles,” Sell said. “I thought we got away from just hitting our shots and once you do that it causes a mess of problems. We’re just getting back to what we do best.”
The first match of the doubleheader will be a familiar one for Sell and company. In each of Sell’s four seasons at LSU, the Lady Tigers have defeated Tulane. Last season, they showed tremendous progress as they fought to a 7-0 sweep.
University of New Orleans enters the match with an undefeated 4-0 record, but has yet to play a ranked opponent. Last year, the only time the program faced the Privateers, the Lady Tigers swept the match, 6-0. Sell, who looks for improvement in every matchup, still expects a disciplined and focused LSU team.
“You can’t think about rankings and winning and losing,” Sell said. “You got to focus on yourself, how you’re playing and the process. That’s all that really should be going through your mind when you’re out there. If you let it drift too much, that’s when bad things happen.”
After today’s doubleheader the team will take on No. 54 Arizona on Friday at 3 p.m. It’s another week of mass play for the Lady Tigers, but anxiety of a déjà vu of the South Alabama match is the last thing in Sell’s mind.
“This isn’t anything new in tennis, doubleheaders and playing all day long, that’s what we do all fall,” Sell said. “We just needed a few days rest from our last matches and now we’re ready to go again.”