Lady Tigers lose tight match
It is not often a college tennis match comes down to the last point of the last match to determine who the victorious team will be.
However, Tuesday’s match between the LSU Lady Tigers and the Auburn Lady Tigers did just that in Auburn’s 4 3 victory over the host Lady Tigers at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
With the match locked up at three, Auburn freshman Petra Bercik defeated LSU senior Tami Botts in an emotional, third set tie-break, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
“We fought our butts off,” said head coach Tony Minnis of the Lady Tigers sixth straight defeat. “We just came up a little bit short.”
LSU led the match 3-2 at one point while the final two matches were taking place.
In the No. 3 singles match, Auburn senior Carolina Maurer edged LSU sophomore Rocio Fantilli in another third set tie-break, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 (7-4). Then Bercik defeated Botts, and Auburn walked away with the road victory.
“I’ve got to give Auburn credit,” Minnis said. “They really came through in the matches.”
LSU senior All-American and 2001 SEC Player of the Year Bruna Colosio looked to return to her old form as she dominated Auburn sophomore Carolina Ramirez, 6-3, 6-2.
This was Auburn’s first victory over the Lady Tigers since 1999 when they beat LSU, 5-4. With the victory, Auburn improved its record to 10-3, including a 4-2 Southeastern Conference mark.
LSU dropped to a 7-7 overall mark and is 0-5 in the SEC. However, the Lady Tigers must regroup quickly, as they will take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes today in Oklahoma at 2:30 p.m.
When asked if it would be tough to put this loss behind them, Minnis replied, “It will be tough, but we have no choice.”
The Lady Tigers will be playing a Tulsa team that owns a 9-4 overall record and an impressive 7-0 record at home in the 2002 spring tennis season.
Tulsa is on a two-match winning streak with 6-1 victories over Arkansas- Little Rock and Central Florida.
Junior Aleksandra Durska leads the Golden Hurricanes with a 22-8 overall singles record.
LSU defeated Tulsa last year in Baton Rouge, 4-1.
Men’s Tennis
In men’s action, today’s scheduled match with Southern Mississippi at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium has been postponed because of chances of inclement weather.
The match has been moved to Thursday at 2 p.m. and will remain at Robinson Tennis Stadium.
David Theard