Women’s Tennis Drops 5-2 Decision at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – Ellie Eades and Julia Zhu each earned another conference victory tonight, but it was not enough to propel Kentucky (7-8, 1-5 SEC) past LSU (11-6, 3-4 SEC). The Tigers claimed the doubles point and four singles wins to earn the 5-2 victory at the LSU Tennis Complex on Friday evening.

The Tigers opened the match by taking the doubles point, powered by wins on courts two and three. The Cats had early leads on all three courts, but the Tigers closed strong to take the early lead in the dual. Court three was the first to end, as Julia Zhu and Lidia Gonzalez fell 6-3. LSU clinched the opening session by taking a 6-4 decision on court 2. The No. 2 duo of Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond held a break advantage at 3-1, but drooped five of the final six games of the contest. The match on court one went unfinished, with Makayla Mills and Elizabeth Stevens trailing 5-4.

The Wildcats were unable to grab momentum early in singles action, dropping five of the six first sets. The Tigers doubled their lead early, as Stevens could not gain control in her No. 1 singles match, falling 6-0, 6-2. The lead then ballooned to 3-0, as Gonzalez fell 6-0, 6-2 on court 3.

The Cats tried to come back from the depths, taking a pair of sets on courts five and six, while also fighting to force a third set on court four, but it was not enough. Zoe Hammond rebounded from a tough first set with a valiant effort, but never could gain a break advantage, falling 3-6, 4-6. The win on court two clinched the dual for the Tigers.

The two teams elected to play the match out, allowing LSU to extend its lead. Sophomore Ellie Myers rebounded from an opening set loss to win the second in bagel fashion, but ultimately fell 2-6, 6-0, 2-6.

The Cats were able to put some points on the board, however, claiming victories on courts four and five. Eades rebounded from a set down to win a pair of tiebreakers, first in the second set to extend the match, then in a ten-point tiebreaker in lieu of a third set to clinch the win at No. 4 singles.

Zhu also claimed a singles win, notching the only straight set victory of the night at No. 5 singles, 6-4, 7-6. Zhu still remains undefeated in Southeastern Conference action, improving her league record to 3-0. Additionally, tonight’s win tied her with Myers for the team lead in singles victories with nine.

The Wildcats will finish out their two-game SEC road trip on Sunday, March 22 at No. 11 Texas A&M. First serve from the Mitchell Tennis Center in Bryan-College Station, Tex. Is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. Texas A&M will provide live stats and a live stream, in addition to Cracked Racquet’s CrossCourt Cast of action from around the league airing on SEC Network +.

RESULTS

Kentucky vs. LSU
Doubles
Mills/Stevens (UK) vs. Erickson/Sahdiieva (LSU) 4-5 (unfinished)
Dekkers/Teixido (LSU) def. Hammond/Eades (UK) 6-4
Tahan/Rivera (LSU) def. Gonzalez/Zhu (UK) 6-3

Singles
Aran Teixido (LSU) def. Elizabeth Stevens (UK) 6-0, 6-2
Florentine Dekkers (LSU) def. Zoe Hammond (UK) 6-3, 6-4
Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Lidia Gonzalez (UK) 6-0, 6-2
Ellie Eades (UK) def. Gaby Rivera (LSU) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0
Julia Zhu (UK) def. Maya Tahan (LSU) 6-4, 7-6
Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Ellie Myers (UK) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2

Order of Finish:
Doubles—3, 2*
Singles—1, 3, 2*, 6, 4, 5

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