Tiger Rag News Services
The No. 5 LSU women’s tennis team was unable to rally against No. 1 Georgia, falling 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston, Illinois.
LSU drops to 6-1 while Georgia moves to 3-1.
“Credit to Georgia for their performance today,” said head coach Taylor Fogleman. “Georgia started really well in doubles and had quick leads on a couple of courts in singles and eventually ran away with them. Afterward, we were 3-0 down in a race to four, which is a tough mountain to climb. With all that said, I thought we were close to flipping the match in our favor in some aspects. Cadence (Brace) was a point away from winning; Addison (Lanton) was rallying in the third set, Ella (McDonald) was battling hard, and Carolina (Kuhl) was close to flipping her contest. I am proud of the girls for almost flipping the script, but we need to start significantly better across the board if we want to beat a well-coached team like Georgia. Though a disappointing result, we’ll learn from it, and I think we will undoubtedly be better because of it.”
Cadence Brace and Addison Lanton began their day on the second court against Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte. Brace and Lanton captured the opening game before Lopata and Paukstyte took six straight to down the LSU pair 6-1.
Looking to rally, Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald took on Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert on the top doubles spot. After dropping the first game, Erickson and McDonald quickly took a 2-1 lead. However, Dilek and Mert captured the final five games for a 6-2 set win to give Georgia the doubles point.
Florentine Dekkers opened singles play on the No. 4 court against No. 25 Anastasiia Gureva. The graduate student fell behind early and was unable to rally, dropping the set 6-0, 6-0, giving Georgia a 2-0 match lead.
Kenna Erickson was next for the Tigers against No. 50 Sofia Rojas on the sixth court. Erickson fell behind and could not respond in the opening set, falling 6-0. The junior took the first game of the second set, but Rojas took an eventual 4-1 before later closing the set out at 6-2 to extend Georgia’s lead to 3-0.
Needing a win to keep the match alive, Carolina Kuhl faced a tough challenge against No. 15 Dilek on the third spot. Kuhl traded the opening games of the first set before Dilek created separation with a 4-1 advantage. Kuhl looked to claw back into the set, narrowing the gap to 5-3, but Dilek closed the set out at 6-3. Kuhl jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the following set before the score remained deadlocked through 5-5. Dilek ultimately took the final two games to secure the second set, 7-5, and award Georgia the match win.
Up Next
LSU will face No. 9 NC State (6-2) in the consolation draw on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 9:00 a.m. CT.
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