After the LSU women’s tennis team opened its SEC schedule with an impressive win against Alabama on Friday night, coach Tony Minnis predicted a war in the team’s home matches against Auburn on Sunday afternoon. A “war” was exactly what the Lady Tigers got. Auburn and LSU were tied 3-3, and junior Mykala Hedberg was last on the court. “This was the first time I’ve been in the position where it’s 3-all in the match, and it’s up to me,” Hedberg said. Hedberg and Auburn junior Alex Haney were in a roller-coaster match in which the first two sets ended in tiebreaks. Hedberg won the first set and had a chance to serve out the match ahead 5-4, but Haney forced another tiebreak, which she won handily 7-1. In the deciding third set, emotions were high and loyal fans yelled cheers of encouragement as Hedberg overcame an early break to win the set 6-4. The team mobbed her when Haney’s final shot hit into the net. “I knew it was an important home match, and we weren’t going to give it to each other,” Hedberg said. “Just having everyone on the sides supporting me, and [knowing] they all believed in me was awesome.” On Friday, the Lady Tigers defeated the Crimson Tide, 5-2, at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium behind a strong performance from junior Megan Falcon, the 15th-ranked player in the nation, and an early win in the doubles point. Falcon knocked off Tiffany Welcher 6-2, 6-3, on Friday. “When we play in the SEC it’s always tough,” Minnis said. “We played very well in doubles. That’s the best doubles we’ve played so far this year, and in singles I felt like we jumped on them when we won four first sets and put ourselves in good position.” But the story of the weekend was the Lady Tigers’ resiliency and maturity in a 4-3, come-from-behind victory against Auburn. Auburn gained quick momentum when LSU lost the doubles point. Falcon and Hedberg fell to Alex Haney and Melissa Konig, 8-1, and Tiffany Tucker and Hannah Robinson lost 8-4 to Fani Chifchieva and Whitney Chappell. But LSU was not to be outdone as junior Staten Spencer and Robinson closed out their respective singles’ matches 6-2, 6-0, to give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead. Falcon, who was previously undefeated in dual play, fell behind 4-0 in the first set to Chifchieva, the 50th-ranked player in the nation. After losing the first set 6-2, Falcon won the first three games of the second set but suffered her first loss of the season and saw an 11-match winning streak end when Chifchieva won 6-2, 6-4. “I was a little bit off [Sunday], and I didn’t really play my best tennis,” Falcon said. “She played pretty [well], but I wasn’t moving very well, and I made a lot of mistakes giving her a lot of free points.” Minnis said he was pleased with the team’s overall effort. “I’m really really proud of those girls,” Minnis said. “After we were down pretty much the whole time and to fight back just shows a lot about their character, and they’ve been working really hard.”
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