LSU Women’s Tennis’ Carolina Kuhl Named SEC Freshman Of The Week

Tiger Rag News Services

Freshman Carolina Kuhl of the No. 5 LSU women’s tennis team was named the conference’s second SEC Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Wednesday.

Kuhl put together an impressive string of matches at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, playing a pivotal role in the Tigers’ early-season success with dominant singles performances against Marshall (2-2) and No. 18 UCLA (2-1).

Opening the ITA Kickoff Weekend against Marshall, after consecutive ties and falling behind 2-1 and later 3-2 in the lone set, Kuhl and fellow freshman Addison Lanton captured the final four doubles games to post a 6-3 set win.

Moving to singles play against her doubles foe El Ouazzani, after a 2-2 stalemate in the opening set, Kuhl found her form, earning a 6-2 first-set result followed by a dominant 6-0 sweep in the following set.

Against UCLA, the German native would narrowly fall short in doubles, a match that featured three lead changes and five ties, culminating in a seven-point tie-breaker. Kuhl and Lanton narrowly lost the set at 7-6(6) to award UCLA the doubles point.  

Looking to rally in singles play, and in a position to clinch the match win against UCLA’s Ahmani Guichard, Kuhl would drop the opening game before taking a 3-1 advantage, and later closing the set out with a 6-2 win. However, Guichard continued to battle in a second set that featured two ties and three lead changes, sending the match into a seven-point tie-breaker, where the German native posted a dominant 7-6(0) set victory to clinch the match result. Kuhl now owns four collective victories on the campaign without surrendering a set in singles.

Through four matches, Kuhl has compiled a 3-0 singles record on the No. 4 court for LSU while also earning her first collegiate doubles victory against Marshall, helping the Tigers open the season 4-0. The freshman now owns four total victories on the year and has yet to drop a set in singles play.

LSU (4-0) returns to action on Feb. 2, hosting an in-state doubleheader against Southern (0-1) at 10 a.m. and Tulane (1-3) at 4:30 p.m. at the LSU Tennis Complex.