LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis knew he was making a good move when he put juniors Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg together as a doubles team in February.
That reshuffling was one of the sparks the Lady Tigers needed to improve their 3-2 record as they were coming off a tough 6-1 loss the previous week.
“We weren’t doing as well as I’d hoped, so I was experimenting with different combinations,” Minnis said.
Falcon and Hedberg won their first four matches and five of their first six as a team, including an upset of the 50th-ranked doubles team in the country against Kentucky.
Hedberg began the season as junior Staten Spencer’s doubles partner, and the two rose as high as No. 30 in the national rankings. Falcon played primarily with Hannah Robinson to start off the spring, after the duo advanced to the NCAA tournament this past season.
Since their first win of the season against New Mexico, Falcon and Hedberg have gone 9-4 and climbed to No. 29 in national doubles rankings, and Minnis said he likes what he sees so far.
“They’re a very solid team whenever they’re out there competing,” Minnis said. “They have similar styles of play as far as their singles game, and Mykala is very instinctive in doubles.”
Hedberg and Falcon both grew up in California – Hedberg in Oxnard and Falcon in Alameda. Hedberg said she had heard of Falcon when she was in high school, but never met her until they came to LSU.
“She’s a couple of years older than me, so we were never in the same age group growing up,” Hedberg said. “I’d seen her name when I was younger because she started doing some pro and [International Tennis Federation] tournaments when I was a little younger, so I had a little bit of a gist of who she was.”
Falcon agrees she and Hedberg’s styles of play complement each other well.
“I feel really comfortable because I pretty much know what she’s going to do, and we’re both pretty aggressive baseliners,” Falcon said. “She’s also really fast so I don’t have to worry about her not being able to get to a ball.”
Hedberg said she and Falcon make a formidable opponent for doubles teams.
“When we play off the ground it’s hard for people to get used to exactly what we’re doing because we put a lot of pressure on people that we’re not going to miss from the baseline or mess each other up at the net,” Hedberg said.
The Lady Tigers will need Falcon and Hedberg’s leadership and strong play this weekend against conference foes Mississippi State and Ole Miss. LSU has lost five straight Southeastern Conference matches, dropping its conference record to 3-5.
Minnis said he hopes his team will be able to rebound from some key injuries. Senior Tiffany Tucker and Spencer were unable to play this past weekend against South Carolina and Florida, and Hedberg re-strained her groin and could not play singles.
“It’s been tough this year because I felt extremely confident in our team when we were healthy,” Minnis said. “We’ve really been ravaged by injuries, but it’s just something we’ve got to fight through.”
Friday’s match at 3 p.m. against Mississippi State begins LSU’s season-ending five-match homestand.
—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]