No. 20 Texas A&M Falls to No. 16 LSU, 4-2

Saturday, March 25

Baton Rouge, La.

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

LSU

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 25, 2017 | Women's Tennis

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 20 Texas A&M put up a good fight against No. 16 LSU but fell to the Tigers, 4-2, today at the LSU Tennis Complex indoor courts.

"It was a hard fought match once again to the bitter end," Texas A&M head coach Mark Weaver said. "I thought we played extremely well in the doubles, which I thought was very important for us playing a very good team on the road, indoors. To the credit of LSU, they had a very good start in the singles, having won five first sets. We were able to rebound a bit, and I thought we had a chance once again to pull it out at the end. Unfortunately when you play these good teams on the road on their home courts, you really have to be a whole level better than them on that day, and it's just not that easy to do. We need to continue to push forward and get a little better so we can get these type of matches to swing out way."

Texas A&M drops to 10-9 overall and 2-5 in Southeastern Conference matches. LSU, off to its best start in SEC play in 20 years, extends its winning streak to four matches and improves to 12-4 overall, 5-2 in league play and 10-1 in home matches.

Texas A&M got the match off to a fast start, going up a service break all three doubles courts. Rachel Pierson and Rutuja Bhosale, who earlier this week received their highest ranking with a No. 12 showing, jumped out to a 2-0 lead against 20^th-ranked Joane Valle Costa and Ryann Foster at the No. 1 line. The Aggie duo later held on to a 3-2 lead before reeling off three consecutive games to win, 6-2, and extend its winning streak to a team-leading four matches.

On Court 2, the LSU tandem of Jade Lewis and Becca Weissmann lost the first two games against Domenica Gonzalez and Eva Paalma but then won the next three games to take a 3-2 lead. It would be the only lead the Tigers would hold on any of the three doubles courts. Gonzalez and Paalma countered with a three-game run to close out the 6-3 victory to clinch the doubles point.

A&M's Macarena Olivares and Stefania Hristov won three deuce points to help propel them to a 5-2 lead against Jessica Golovin and Skylar Holloway at the No. 3 line. The LSU pair fought back to get within 5-4 before the doubles point was decided and the match was abandoned.

In singles, all six first sets were decided by the minimum two games or a tiebreaker, with LSU pulling away to win the set on five courts. Foster, No. 105 in singles, won three consecutive games to close out a 6-4 first-set win against Saska Gavrilovska at the No. 3 line. Foster carried the momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead en route to a 6-2 second set victory that evened the team score, 1-1.

Lewis, ranked 30^th, gave the Tigers the lead after holding off 39^th-ranked Pierson at No. 1. The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set before Pierson stormed back to win five consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead. Lewis then won the next three games to win, 7-5. The second set was on serve at 4-4 before Lewis won the next two games to complete the straight-set victory and give the Tigers a 2-1 edge.

Golovin put LSU ahead, 3-1, after narrowly topping Gonzalez, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 4 line, putting the Maroon and White in a must-win situation on the remaining three courts.

Tina Bokhua put A&M within 3-2, overcoming a 3-0 first-set deficit to defeat Holloway, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 before 86^th-ranked Valle Costa pulled away to defeat 91^st-ranked Bhosale, 7-6 (1), 7-5, at Court 2 to clinch the 4-2 victory for the Tigers.

Olivares held a 4-2 lead in the third set against Weissmann at No. 5 when the match was stopped. Weissmann overcame a 5-3 deficit to take the first set, 7-5, but Olivares rebounded with a 6-1 second-set win to force the third set.

The Aggies conclude their four-match road swing next weekend as they travel to Mississippi to take on 25^th-ranked Mississippi State, Friday at 3 p.m. in Starkville and 28^th-ranked Ole Miss on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Oxford.

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

Texas A&M vs LSU
Mar 25, 2017 at Baton Rouge, La.
(LSU Tennis Complex-indoors)
#16 LSU 4, #20 Texas A&M 2

Singles competition
1. #30 Jade Lewis (LSU) def. #39 Rachel Pierson (A&M), 7-5, 6-4
2. #86 Joana Valle Costa (LSU) def. #91 Rutuja Bhosale (A&M), 7-6 (1), 7-5
3. #105 Ryann Foster (LSU) def. Saska Gavrilovska (A&M), 6-4, 6-2
4. Jessica Golovin (LSU) def. Domenica Gonzalez (A&M), 6-4, 6-4
5. Macarena Olivares (A&M) vs. Becca Weissmann (LSU), 5-7, 6-1, 4-2 unfinished
6. Tina Bokhua (A&M) def. Skylar Holloway (LSU), 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. #12 Rachel Pierson/Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. #20 Joana Valle Costa/Ryann Foster (LSU), 6-2
2. Domenica Gonzalez/Eva Paalma (A&M) def. Jade Lewis/Becca Weissmann (LSU), 6-3
3. Macarena Olivares/Stefania Hristov (A&M) vs. Jessica Golovin/Skylar Holloway (LSU), 5-4 unfinished

Match Notes:
Texas A&M 10-9 (2-5 SEC); National ranking #20
LSU 12-4 (5-2 SEC); National ranking #16
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2); Singles (3, 1, 4, 6, 2)

Pronunciations
Rutuja Bhosale                       rue-too-jah BO-slay
Tina Bokhua                           BO-kwah
Saska Gavrilovska                  SAUSH-ka gav-ril-ohv-ska
Stefania Hristov                     steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Eva Paalma                             A-va palma