A five-day delay of the Lady Tigers’ tennis match against Mississippi State did not prevent LSU from sealing its fifth Southeastern Conference win of the season Wednesday morning at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium. LSU’s match against the Bulldogs was suspended Friday because of rain with LSU leading 3-0 in singles. The teams did not play doubles. LSU junior Staten Spencer clinched the victory for No. 30 LSU (12-8, 5-5 SEC) with her 7-5, 6-3 win against Mississippi State’s Tatiana Feit. Spencer resumed her match Wednesday leading, 7-5, 1-0, in the second set. With the 5-1 loss, No. 71 Mississippi State is still winless in conference play with one SEC match remaining. The Bulldogs have lost five straight matches overall. “It was a little weird because it wasn’t normal format,” Spencer said. “I came out a little tight, but I didn’t want to split … so I just tried to close out the second [set] as best I could.” With the victory in hand, LSU sophomore Nicole Kantor finished her three-set match against Elna de Villiers after rebounding to win the second set and even their match. Kantor and de Villiers swapped breaks in the third set to tie the match at 2 before Kantor took control at 5-3 and completed her come-from-behind win, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis said he was impressed with the team’s strong finish in the return from the rain delay. “It was tougher than it looked because we had momentum when it started raining,” Minnis said. “I was a little concerned coming back because things change so many times, but Staten and Nicole did a very good job of coming back in the second set. It was good to get that win.” Friday’s three singles wins – all in straight sets – came from 18th-ranked junior Megan Falcon, sophomore Hannah Robinson and junior Mykala Hedberg. Hedberg knocked off a nationally-ranked player for the second match in a row, beating No. 112 Renee Joseph of Mississippi State, 6-2, 6-3. The Lady Tigers were originally scheduled to play their next home match against Prairie View today, but that match has been canceled. LSU will return to the court Saturday at 1 p.m. for senior day against SEC West-leading Arkansas. The Razorbacks have already clinched the SEC West title with a 7-3 conference record. “We need to try to continue some momentum for the NCAA Tournament in hopes of possibly hosting a match and put ourselves in a position where we can be a higher seed,” Minnis said. “We’re healthy again and playing pretty solid, so I’m pretty excited. If we keep playing at the level we’ve played the last couple of matches, I like our chances.”
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