Women’s Tennis Tops LSU, 4-1

Friday, March 23

College Station

5 p.m.

Texas A&M

LSU

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 23, 2018 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M women's tennis team ran its winning streak to four with a clutch 4-1 victory over No. 40 LSU today at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

With the win, the 34^th-ranked Aggies improve to 14-4 overall and 4-3 in Southeastern Conference matches, pulling one game ahead of the Tigers, who fall to 3-4 in SEC matches and 12-5 overall.

Doubles began with the teams splitting lopsided 6-0 victories at both the Nos. 2 and 3 lines. LSU's Ryan Foster and Kennan Johnson were first off after cruising to a 6-0 win over A&M's Iulia Ivascu and Tatiana Makarova. The Aggies countered soon after as Rylie McQuaid and Dorthea Faa-Hviding finished off Luba Vasilyuk and Ashton Rabalais, 6-0, at No. 3.

The doubles point would come down to a much closer contest on Court 1. The match was on serve with LSU's 27^th-ranked duo of Eden Richardson and Jessica Golovin leading, 3-2, over Eva Paalma and Domenica Gonzalez as the other two matches concluded. The Aggie tandem, which entered the match 0-3 against ranked opponents, would then rally to get its first ranked win, reeling off four consecutive games to close out a 6-3 victory to clinch the doubles point for A&M.

Faa-Hviding put the Maroon and White ahead, 2-0, at the start of singles with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 victory over Rabalais at No. 6. It was the fourth consecutive victory for the freshman from Stavanger, Norway.

Vasilyuk put the Tigers on the scoreboard and within 2-1 as she overcame a 3-0 deficit in the second set by winning six consecutive games to close out a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Makarova at No. 5.

Macarena Olivares gave A&M a 3-1 lead as she posted her first ranked win of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 80 Jessica Golovin. It was only the second loss of the spring for Golovin, who falls to 13-2.

Gonzalez would secure the win for the Aggies. The senior from Ecuador opened the match by jumping out to a 4-0 lead over Foster at the No. 1 line. Foster fought back and eventually took the lead, 6-5. Gonzalez won the next game to force a tiebreaker and eventually pulled away to win the tiebreaker, 7-5, and take the opening set, 7-6 (5). Gonzalez, ranked 119^th, also won the first four games of the second set but this time held off Foster to win the set, 6-2, to complete the straight-set victory and clinch the win for A&M.

Paalma was battling 120th-ranked Richardson at No. 3, and the match was tied 2-2 in the third set when Gonzalez clinched the team victory and the match was stopped. McQuaid also was in a third set against Johnson at No. 4. After dropping the opening set, McQuaid won the second set, 7-5, to force a third set. Johnson held a 4-2 lead in the final frame when play was stopped.

A&M, which improved to 12-1 in home matches, closes out its home slate next weekend with a pair of matches at the Mitchell Tennis Center. The Aggies play host to 24^th-ranked Mississippi State on Friday, March 30 at 5 p.m. and then wrap up their home schedule on Easter Sunday as they take on No. 11 Ole Miss. First serve against the Rebels is at 12 p.m., and A&M's three seniors, Gonzalez, Olivares and Paalma, will be recognized after the match.

General admission to all regular-season men's and women's home matches is free.

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 by following @AggieWTEN on Twitter and Instagram, as well as on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWTEN.

Texas A&M Postmatch Quotes:

Head Coach Mark Weaver
On today's match…
"It was a great job by the ladies today. Eva and Domenica won a clutch doubles point against a very good team at No. 1 doubles to get the critical doubles point. Dorthea had a quick win at No. 6 to get us to 2-0 very quick. Tatiana lost at No. 5 to make it 2-1, and the matches were battles. Macarena had a great win at No. 2, and Domenica did a great job of closing it out for us at No. 1. Riley and Eva were still battling it out at the end, so we still had chances there as well. We had a great crowd this evening and the 12th Man really helped us pull through in some very difficult conditions in the wind."

Tennis Match Results

LSU vs Texas A&M
3/23/2018 at College Station, Texas
(George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)

#34 Texas A&M 4, #40 LSU 1

Singles competition
1. #119 Domenica Gonzalez (A&M) def. Ryann Foster (LSU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
2. Macarena Olivares (A&M) def. #80 Jessica Golovin (LSU) 6-3, 7-5
3. Eva Paalma (A&M) vs. #120 Eden Richardson (LSU) 1-6, 6-3, 2-2, unfinished
4. Riley McQuaid (A&M) vs. Kennan Johnson (LSU) 1-6, 7-5, 2-4, unfinished
5. Luba Vasilyuk (LSU) def. Tatiana Makarova (A&M) 6-2, 6-3
6. Dorthea Faa-Hviding (A&M) def. Ashton Rabalais (LSU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Eva Paalma/Domenica Gonzalez (A&M) def. #27 Eden Richardson/Jessica Golovin (LSU) 6-3
2. Ryann Foster/Kennan Johnson (LSU) def. Iulia Ivascu/Tatiana Makarova (A&M) 6-0
3. Riley McQuaid/Dorthea Faa-Hviding (A&M) def. Luba Vasilyuk/Ashton Rabalais (LSU) 6-0

Match Notes:
LSU 12-5, 3-4 SEC; National ranking #40
Texas A&M 14-4, 4-3 SEC; National ranking #34
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,5,2,1)