The Daily Reveille
page 6
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Monday, September 30, 2013
Revamped Lady Tigers showcase talent in Atlanta Taylor Curet Sports Contributor
Love, love. Those words signify the beginning of a new tennis match and for the LSU women’s team, a fresh start. The Lady Tigers launched their first sets as a complete team this weekend as they traveled to Atlanta, Ga., for the Atlanta Classic at the Sharon Lester Tennis Center. Team scores weren’t calculated at the Classic, but competition followed the dual-match format employed during the spring season. Georgia State hosted the three-day tournament, which began Friday morning as LSU was joined by No. 26 Georgia Tech
and Columbia. Love also describes LSU coach Julia Sell’s impression of her team’s performance at the event, in which freshmen Skylar Holloway and Abigail Owens, and junior transfer Noel Scott made their court debuts for LSU. “This team, they’re a competitive group,” Sell said. “They’re a passionate group and day by day, we got better and better where [Sunday] was definitely our best tennis, which is the way you want to work your way in to any tournament. ... They had very high-quality matches, they had great wins.” The Lady Tigers faced a Georgia Tech team Sunday that finished last season ranked No. 21 in the country.
LSU won four of its five singles matches against the Yellow Jackets, highlighted by Scott’s 6-4, 6-3 victory against Tech’s No. 67 Kendal Woodard. Scott faced top-ranked opponents throughout the weekend, falling to Georgia State’s No. 37 Abigail Tere-Apisah 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday and Columbia’s No. 104 Bianca Sanon 7-6, 7-5 on Friday. Over the course of the three days, every LSU newcomer recorded at least one victory in singles, including freshmen Gabrielle Otero and Owens winning all three of the matches they competed in. Sell said she was excited to see how poised the freshmen played in their first collegiate contest and how the
newcomers’ confidence influenced the returnees. “I was really impressed with how [the freshmen] came into the tournament, and they didn’t seem too nervous,” Sell said. “They were fired up, fist pumping and just getting after it. I mean, that just speaks to the players they are ... and the experience that they have coming in. We didn’t have that confidence with every player last year.” LSU notched 13 singles victories at the tournament but won just three out of eight doubles matches. Two of the doubles wins came from the duo of Otero and junior Mary Jeremiah. Since four of the seven Lady Tigers are new to the squad this year, continuity between doubles
partners is not a huge concern at this point because pairs are still learning how to mesh together, Sell said. But with the results from this weekend’s outing, Sell said she’s thrilled for what the team will bring to the court in spring 2014. “My focus in the fall is always about improvement, Sell said. “I’m not as concerned with results. So, when you have very good results this early in the year it speaks highly because if you look at our year as a whole, usually right now will be the worst that we play. So, it’s a great start.” Contact Taylor Curet at tcuret@lsureveille.com
MEN’S TENNIS
Sophomore Arias advances to final round of pre-qualifying Simpson begins play on Tuesday Trey Labat Sports Contributor
Five players from the LSU men’s tennis team competed in pre-qualifying for the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday and Sunday, with sophomore Boris Arias advancing to the final round of qualifying. Arias advanced to the final round of pre-qualifying after defeating Hawaii’s Nils Schuhmann 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the tournament. Arias played his third round match later that day, defeating Ohio State’s Kevin Metka in a three-set thriller. Arias lost the first set, then battled to bring the second set to a tie at 3-3 before ultimately
taking the set 6-4. He eventually came out victorious, winning the third set 6-2. LSU coach Jeff Brown attributed Arias’ success in the long tournament to improved strength from last season. “[Arias] has gotten a little stronger; he’s tall and thin, but he’s added strength to his frame,” Brown said. “It’s helping his movement and some of his shots.” The win advanced Arias to the final round of pre-qualifying, which will take place at 8 a.m. Monday. If Arias reaches the qualifying stage of the tournament he will join LSU junior Chris Simpson, who was able to forgo pre-qualifying because of his No. 29 singles ranking. Simpson is looking to follow last weekend’s strong performance in the Southeastern Conference Fall Classic where he won four singles matches including
GOLD MEDAL
one nationally ranked opponent but the performance impressed before being eliminated. Brown, with his improvement “I think [Simpson] deserved on the mental side of the game to finally have a week like that, being key to the victory, Brown where he worked hard, he got said. himself mentally ready for it,” “[Harrison] has raised his Brown said. “It’s important when expectations and improved his you feel like you focus from last put in the work season,” he said. ‘I think [Simpson] to actually get the “That has really reward.” deserved to finally have helped him a lot.” Brown said Brown said the confidence a week like that where Kennedy has alfrom last week- he worked hard, he got ready reached the end’s success will high level of play give Simpson the himself mentally ready he reached toward ability to play a the end of last for it.’ little freer now season. that he has a couSophomores Jeff Brown ple of wins under John Michael LSU tennis coach his belt. Busch and AnSimpson will drew Korinek take the court Tuesday at the secured wins on the first day conclusion of the pre-qualifying of pre-qualifying as well as event. freshmen Eric Perez and John Arias wasn’t the only Butsch. The young Tigers batTiger that experienced suc- tled through tough conditions cess in the pre-qualifying stage, though. Sophomore Harrison Kennedy served Arthur Romanet of Bradley University a 6-3, 6-4 defeat in the first round of the pre-qualifier and followed the victory with a dominating 6-1, 6-0 win over Texas A&M’s Max Montague. Kennedy eventually suffered defeat in the third round of the tournament at the hands of Nebraska’s Dusty Boyer, (Reg. $12.95-$14.95)
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that saw matches delayed several times throughout the day due to weather. All four Tigers were eventually eliminated in the second round. The performances from some of the younger Tiger players pleased Brown, especially in light of the delays. “It was a difficult day with the rain and conditions, but the guys kept their focus and we had a good day overall with some young guys getting some wins,” Brown said. “We’re looking for better weather [today] and looking forward to competing.”
Contact Trey Labat at tlabat@lsureveille.com; Twitter: @treylabat_TDR
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The LSU swimming and diving team competed in its annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad meet on Friday with the Gold team defeating the Purple team 7-3.
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