The LSU women’s tennis team advanced to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament semifinals after defeating No. 1-seeded Oklahoma, 4-3, on Apr. 17 at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
This win marks LSU’s first trip to the SEC semifinals since 2015 and only the fifth time in program history that they have reached this stage. The Tigers improved their record to 18-8, while Oklahoma dropped to 23-5.
Head coach Taylor Fogleman said, “Tremendous tennis match today. Oklahoma is one of the top teams in the country and a co-SEC regular season champion, so to compete like that on their home courts says a lot about our group. We knew it would be a challenge, and I knew our girls would rise to it. I thought we were right there in doubles, but the environment made things really tough late, and Oklahoma just edged us out. Our response in singles, though, was spectacular. In matches like these, there are always ebbs and flows, and we saw that throughout today, but our toughness and grit were exactly where they needed to be. I’m extremely proud and excited for this team. They’ve been working incredibly hard together to achieve something special. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, but we know there’s more ahead with another strong opponent tomorrow, whether it’s Texas or Georgia. We’ll rest, recover, and be ready for another great opportunity.”
The match was closely contested from start to finish. In doubles play, LSU’s Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald secured a win on court two against Evialina Laskevich and Edda Mamedova of Oklahoma; however losses on courts one and three gave Oklahoma the doubles point.
In singles competition LSU rebounded strongly with Cadence Brace winning her match against Laskevich on court one in straight sets while Addison Lanton also earned a straight-set victory over Chloe Noel on court four.
With three matches each after five singles contests completed Carolina Kuhl clinched her third set over Salakthip Ounmuang before Ella McDonald sealed LSU’s overall victory by defeating Julia Garcia Ruiz in two tiebreak sets: 7-6(4), 7-6(2).
LSU will face either Texas or Georgia next in Saturday’s semifinal round scheduled for Apr. 18 at 3:00 p.m.
