Women’s tennis might not be the first sport that comes to mind when thinking about the Southeastern Conference – but it should be.
As LSU’s program slowly climbed into the field of championship contenders during co-head coach Julia Sell’s tenure, the SEC has proven its dominance over and over, leaving no doubt about being the toughest conference in the nation.
Seven of the 14 teams rank in the top-25, with Georgia, who finished the past four seasons ranked no lower than No. 6, leading the conference at No. 4.
Still, no match is truly one-sided. Three out of No. 18 LSU’s four SEC matches so far were decided by one point despite a double-digit differences between the Lady Tigers and their opponent’s rankings.
“The rankings right now are really skewed,” Sell said.. “Every team is legitimately a top-15 team, they just haven’t had enough wins for the ranking to reflect it.”
Missouri sits in the lowest spot of the conference teams at No. 61. Prior to SEC play, the squad was off to 12-1 start, but then-No. 12 South Carolina and then-No. 15 Florida delivered a reality check with 4-0 and 6-1 losses, respectively on March 3 and March 5.
LSU, on the other hand, had the opportunity to test the waters against top-10 teams in early February at the ITA Indoor Championships.
With a 13-5 overall and 2-2 conference record, the Lady Tigers have jumped up and down the top-25 polls all season, climbing as high as No. 9.
“Playing national indoors helped us a lot,” said senior Ella Taylor. “Even though we only played three matches there, playing back-to-back top-10 teams made us see the level. We started getting into the swing again now these first two weekends, but it really set the stage for the rest of the season coming up.”
Among the Lady Tigers’ new additions to the 2016 season is sophomore Texas transfer Ryann Foster. When playing for the Longhorns, the then-freshman faced highly ranked teams as then-No. 7 Baylor, but the Big 12 also featured four unranked teams, which the SEC has not seen in over a decade.
“I knew coming in that the SEC was really strong and that once we hit conference play that every match is going to be a battle,” Foster said. “It’s just been really fun so far.”
This season, however, shows how even the weaker members of the conference look to keep up with high standard.
After not being able to finish with a ranking since 2009, Mississippi State ended last season at No. 32 with a 16-12 overall record. Now, the Bulldogs hold a 11-3 record and a No. 22 ranking, validating their place in the SEC with a 4-3 upset of LSU, March 13.
You can reach Markus Hufner on Twitter @Hufner_TDR