After a fall semester filled with tournaments from California to Illinois, the No. 21 LSU women’s tennis team finally hosts its first home matches on Saturday facing Southern University and Nicholls State University.
The tournament marks the end of the preseason for the Lady Tigers, who with the ITA Kick-Off Weekend right around the corner, are preparing for spring’s mass play.
“[Tuesday] was the first day where we knew they are ready to go and now we’re just kind of waiting and anticipating the first match,” LSU head coach Julia Sell said. “For this weekend, I just expect them to go out, compete and enjoy it and kind of christen our new facility here.”
It has been two months since LSU’s last mass play tournament, but positive energy dominates the practices as the Lady Tigers prepare to take the court for the first time in their new tennis complex. The $9.7 million facility has so far only served for practice purposes for the Lady Tigers, but with the wait, excitement kept increasing.
“It’s a dream,” junior Joana Vale Costa said. “Sometimes I still feel that this new facility is not ours, but it’s really exciting that we now are able to experience all of it.”
Positivity has also flood over to the coaching staff. Sell said she couldn’t be happier with the team’s current state and hopes the Lady Tigers highest-ever preseason ranking serves as a nice confidence boost.
Hopes are high this season. With only one freshman on the team, the doubles are experienced, and Sell said even seniors have taken another step up.
Now, her focus is on finishing strong. Sell wants to see her players fight hard for every point. With no sight of underestimation, the four-year LSU head coach said both teams always come out with fierce passion that will lead to good sets.
“Even though they aren’t in the SEC, they compete a lot,” Vale Costa said. “Nicholls is a team that comes in knowing they don’t have anything to lose. So they just play freely, which sometimes can be hard for us, but I think our mentality is set.”