Baton Rouge, La. – The No. 19 LSU Women’s Tennis team came out on top in a Top 25 matchup over the No. 23 Tennessee Lady Volunteers by a score of 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Tennis Complex.

With the win, LSU improves to 10-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play, while Tennessee moves to 9-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

Selling Points

“Tremendous win by this team,” co-head coach Michael Sell said. “All heart and toughness today! Safiya (Carrington) dug deep from within to clinch her court and the match for us, and we’re really proud of Taylor (Bridges) and Maggie (Cubitt) for beating very good and resilient opponents. The depth in our lineup has been our greatest strength and the top of the lineup came through for the team today.”

“We’re happy to have a week off as we need the rest and recover from a few small injuries so we can finish the final part of the regular season strong. Today was a complete team effort and we could not be prouder.”

Doubles Results  

The No. 14 duo of senior Eden Richardson and sophomore Nina Geissler struck first for the Tigers when they defeated Esther Adeshina and Daria Kuczer by a score of 6-3 at the No. 1 doubles.

LSU clinched the doubles point with a win at the No. 3, where seniors Taylor Bridges and Paris Corley defeated Rebeka Mertena and Eleonora Molinaro in a tight 6-4 contest.

Singles Results  

Tennessee grabbed the first singles point of the afternoon at the No. 5, where Kuczer defeated Richardson by a score of 6-3, 6-3.

No. 41 Bridges gave LSU a 2-1 lead after winning in straight sets at the No. 1 over Molinaro. Bridges took an early lead and was able to hold Molinaro off to win the first set 6-4 before she recovered from a slow start in the second set to bounce back and win 6-3 and secure her seventh win of the dual season.

The Lady Vols earned their final point of the afternoon at the No. 3, where No. 52 Mertena held off Corley in a tight match. Mertena and Corley contested a close first set that went to 5-5 and saw Mertena able to narrowly win 7-5. The second set was another close one that had Mertena hold off a late surge from Corley to win 6-4 and equal the score at 2-2.

At the No. 4, sophomore Maggie Cubitt defeated Tenika McGiffin in straight sets to push LSU back into the lead. The first contest was back and forth all the way to a tiebreaker, where Cubitt gained advantage over McGiffin at the end of it and won 7-5 to claim the first set. The second set saw Cubitt carry momentum from her success in the first, dropping only one game to win 6-1 and claim her sixth win of the overall season.

No. 83 Safiya Carrington clinched the match for LSU with a grinding three set win at the No. 2 over No. 118 Carly Briggs. The two traded games in a first set that had to be extended, with Carrington able to pull out the win 7-5. The second set was almost identical to the first, but this time requiring a tiebreaker to decide the winner, which Briggs was able to pull off in 7-2 fashion. In the third set, Carrington recovered from her second set loss to win by a score of 6-3 and give the Purple & Gold its tenth win of the season.

Up Next 

No. 19 LSU will recover on a bye week and return to action in College Station, Texas when they take on No. 25 Texas A&M at noon CT on Saturday, March 27.

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#19 LSU 4, #23 Tennessee 2 

Singles competition

1. #41 Taylor Bridges (LSU) def. Eleonora Molinaro (UT) 6-4, 6-3

2. #83 Safiya Carrington (LSU) def. #118 Carly Briggs (UT) 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3

3. #52 Rebeka Mertena (UT) def. Paris Corley (LSU) 7-5, 6-4

4. Maggie Cubitt (LSU) def. Tenika McGiffin (UT) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1

5. Daria Kuczer (UT) def. Eden Richardson (LSU) 6-3, 6-3

6. Nina Geissler (LSU) vs. #85 Johanna Silva (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 2-1, unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #14 Nina Geissler/Eden Richardson (LSU) def. Esther Adeshina/Daria Kuczer (UT) 6-3

2. Safiya Carrington/Maggie Cubitt (LSU) vs. Carly Briggs/Tenika McGiffin (UT) 6-6, unfinished

3. Taylor Bridges/Paris Corley (LSU) def. Rebeka Mertena/Eleonora Molinaro (UT) 6-4

Match Notes 

Tennessee 9-5 (3-3 SEC); National ranking #23

LSU 10-3 (5-3 SEC); National ranking #19

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,1,3,4,2)