Tearful emotion and shared memories are inevitably attached to out-going seniors in season finales, but an added bulk of importance is attached to this year’s last match for the Lady Tigers tennis team — hosting in-state rival Tulane.
New Orleans native Lauren Seaman said she will be ready for this Friday’s match.
“This Friday against Tulane is so important to me,” Seaman said. “Being from New Orleans, I know how important the Tulane-LSU rivalry is. I think it’s great that we have this match at this time of the year.”
Seaman said she also relishes the opportunity to host Tulane because of possible implications in the NCAA regionals.
This week the Lady Tigers moved up to No. 20 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
Tulane is positioned in its highest ranking in school history at No. 12. Seaman and her teammates hope that a head-to-head victory over the Green Wave will be enough to clinch home court advantage for the NCAA regional round.
“We really want to host the NCAA regionals, and this game could determine it,” Seaman said. “Since they’re already ranked ahead of us, we’ve got nothing to lose and maybe this win will put as ahead of Tulane.”
The Lady Tigers are coming off one of their most successful Southeastern Conference tournaments, advancing to the semifinals for the second time in their history, only to be knocked off by defending SEC and national champion Florida, 4-1.
“That was a tough loss to swallow,” Minnis said. “Jessica [Ferguson] was two points from upsetting the No.1 player in the country. That match could have moved her up considerably in the rankings.”
Before losing to Florida, LSU put together a nine-match winning streak, including seven in the SEC.
The streak started after LSU lost 7-0 to SEC rival Vanderbilt, prompting a disappointed Minnis to call out his team for coming out with a “flat” performance in doubles.
But Minnis said he feels better about where his team stands, and allotted his players extra rest after some tough tournament matches this past weekend.
“I’m giving them three days off,” Minnis said. “Those games were brutal, I’ll let them get back at it later in the week to get ready for Tulane.”
LSU will have its hands full with a No. 15 Tulane team that won its second consecutive Conference USA tournament title last week. The conference victories put Tulane at 24-1 for the season, including 15 of its victories against ranked opponents.
“It was a very inspirational victory for us,” said Tulane coach David Schumacher after winning the Conference USA Championship. “I was very impressed with this team, because they came out focused and ready to win.”
Minnis said he prefers scheduling a tough opponent as opposed to having an extended rest between championship tournaments.
“Other coaches said I was smart for scheduling a tougher team between the tournaments,” Minnis said. “That’s a long gap between matches. Since the SEC Championships are a week earlier than they normally are, I’ve decided to go ahead and do it. Also, we’ve played Tulane every year and that’s a rivalry we plan to continue.”