Texas A&M
LSU
Aggie Women Defeat No. 32 LSU, 4-3
Mar 13, 2015 | Women's Tennis
Texas A&M, which won its seventh consecutive match in the series against the Tigers, improves to 5-3, including 3-1 in Southeastern Conference matches. LSU falls to 11-6 overall and 2-3 in SEC action.
The Aggies entered the match shorthanded as junior Ines Deheza, who has won a team-leading five consecutive singles matches as well as her last three doubles matches, missed the contest to attend her brother's wedding in Bolivia.
"I think my choice of English prior to the match was that our 'metal' would be tested, and it was,” Aggie head coach Howard Joffe said. “Not only is LSU a vastly improved team, but we were without the services of our hottest player in Ines Deheza for both singles and doubles.”
A&M had several players step up with clutch performances to aid in the victory.
“Saska Gavrilovska and Rutuja Bhosale helped get us to the doubles point with some superb doubles play,” Joffe said. “But the dual match once singles began was a gruesome affair. In the end Rachel Pierson outplayed and outfought an exceptional LSU player.”
A&M won two of the three doubles matches, capturing the doubles point for the fifth consecutive time and the seventh time in eight matches overall. The Aggie duo of Bhosale and Gavrilovska reeled off six consecutive games to close out an 8-2 victory over LSU's 48th-ranked Skylar Kuykendall and Abigail Owens at the No. 2 line. The Tigers quickly evened the race for the crucial point as Joana Vale Costa and Noel Scott soon followed with an 8-2 win at over Pierson and Eva Paalma at No. 1.
All attention turned to Court 3, where LSU's Amanda Atanasson and Skylar Holloway held a narrow 5-4 lead over A&M's Stefania Hristov and Anna Mamalat, who was playing in place of Deheza. The Aggie pair won the next three games to go up a break, 6-5. The teams then held serve for the remainder of the contest as A&M pulled off the 8-6 win to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead.
The momentum quickly shifted in favor of the Tigers at the start of singles as LSU would win the first set on four courts. Bhosale and Paalma were the only two A&M players to win a first set to open singles play. Bhosale went on to cruise to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Scott at the No. 3 line to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead, but Owens soon finished off Mamalat, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 to put the Tigers within 2-1.
Paalma never trailed in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Atanasson at No. 6, giving A&M a 3-1 lead.
The remaining three matches were intense and unpredictable, as A&M rebounded with second-set wins by Pierson, Gavrilovska and Hristov to force third sets.
The Tigers got within 3-2 as 115th-ranked Kuykendall finished off 62nd-ranked Gavrilovska, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Pierson had dropped her first set, 6-2, to 40th-ranked Vale Costa at the No. 1 court and was trailing the second, 5-3. In a must-win pressure situation, Pierson began to rally, winning the next four games to take the set, 7-5, and force a third set. Pierson, ranked No. 46 in singles, then won six straight games to win the third set and clinch the victory for A&M.
Meanwhile, Hristov, who lost 6-0 in the first set but came from behind to win her second set, 7-5, against Taylor at No. 5, was battling a painful leg cramp after tying the third set, 2-2. Taylor held a 4-3 lead as Pierson clinched, and Hristov retired once the team winner was determined.
“I'm delighted and proud of our group,” Joffe added. “I look forward to seeing us perform once we are firing on all cylinders. I'm confident our best tennis lies ahead.”
Next week the Aggies begin a four-match homestand over six days, starting Thursday, March 19 against former Big 12 Conference rival and eighth-ranked Baylor at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. The match against the Bears is the first of three top-10 teams the Aggies will face during the homestand, as A&M hosts No. 31 Auburn on Friday, March 20, No. 6 and defending SEC regular-season champion Alabama on Sunday, March 22, and third-ranked and defending SEC Tournament champion Florida on Tuesday, March 24.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
#46 Texas A&M 4, #32 LSU 3
W.T. 'Dub' Robinson Tennis Stadium
Baton Rouge, La.
Singles
1. #46 Rachel Pierson (TAMU) def. #40 Joana Vale Costa (LSU), 2-6, 7-5, 6-0
2. #115 Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) def. #62 Saska Gavrilovska (TAMU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. #57 Rutuja Bhosale (TAMU) def. Noel Scott (LSU), 6-0, 6-2
4. Abby Owens (LSU) def. Anna Mamalat (TAMU), 6-4, 6-2
5. Ella Taylor (LSU) def. #123 Stefania Hristov (TAMU), 6-0, 5-7, 4-3 retired
6. Eva Paalma (TAMU) def. Skylar Holloway (LSU), 6-3, 6-3
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. Vale Costa/Scott (LSU) def. #32 Paalma/Pierson (TAMU), 8-2
2. Bhosale/Gavrilovska (TAMU) def. #48 Kuykendall/Owens (LSU), 8-2
3. Hristov/Mamalat (TAMU) def. Holloway/Atanasson (LSU), 8-6
Order of finish
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 3, 4, 6, 2, 1*, 5
*-clinched the match
Team records
Texas A&M: 5-3, 3-1 SEC
LSU: 11-6, 2-3 SEC
Players Mentioned
