BATON ROUGE, La. – Making its 18th NCAA tournament appearance, the Patriot League champion Boston University women's tennis team battled No. 12-seeded LSU to the end in a 4-0 defeat Friday afternoon at the LSU Tennis Complex.
After claiming a tightly-contested doubles point and three more singles points in straight sets, the Tigers improve to 15-5 and advance to Saturday's NCAA second round matchup with No. 20 Michigan, as the Terriers (10-2) had their nine-match win streak snapped.
The final result was not indicative of how well the Terriers competed against LSU in the first NCAA meeting between the two programs.
During doubles, LSU's No. 84 ranked duo of Taylor Bridges and Paris Corley opened with a 6-0 win at line 2. Freshman
Kaitlin Tan and junior
Shelly Yaloz kept the first point up for grabs though with a dominating 6-1 victory at line 3 against Safiya Carrington and Maggie Cubitt, a duo that previously earned wins against No. 28 Arkansas, No. 34 Mississippi State, Florida, Rice and TCU.
Tan and Yaloz's doubles win marked BU's first-ever victory in either singles or doubles action during the NCAA team competition. 36th-year head coach, BU Hall of Famer and USTA New England Hall of Famer
Lesley Sheehan ('84) previously won a match during the 1983 NCAA singles tournament as the Terriers' lone representative.
With the doubles point still there for the taking, seniors
Lily Burchell and
Emily Kim mounted a rally but ultimately came up just short to LSU's Nina Geissler and 2018 NCAA doubles champion Eden Richardson. Both Geissler and Richardson ranked as high as No. 26 together last season before the pandemic hit and were 2019 ITA Fall Southern Regional Doubles Runner-up.
BU kept the pressure on in singles action with Tan and sophomore
Erica Di Battista becoming the first duo in program history to win a set in the same tournament. Tan started things off by winning her first set at line 2, 6-3, to become the first Terrier since 2015 to win a set. It was the highest set won since two-time America East Player of the Year Stefanie Nunic ('12) led UCLA's No. 15 Yasmin Schnack, 6-3, 2-5, in the top slot back in 2009.
Owner of a 2020 win over Syracuse's No. 64 Guzal Yusupova and ranking as high as No. 100 herself last spring, Di Battista jumped out to a 6-4 lead against No. 60 Paris Corley. However, neither Di Battista or Tan were able to see their matches through to the end, as LSU was able to capture the needed three points elsewhere.
The Tigers' Richardson posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory at line 5 against Burchell. No. 53 Taylor Bridges toughed out a first set against freshman
Victoria Carlsten at line 1 and then pulled away for the 6-4, 6-1 victory. Cubitt added the other point by holding off Kim, 6-4, 6-0. In the other singles contest, senior
Katya Martens was trying to mount a rally when her match was halted, 2-6, 3-2, at line 6.
2020 NCAA First Round
#12 LSU – 4, Boston University – 0
Singles
1. #53 Taylor Bridges (LSU) def. Victoria Carlsten (BU): 6-4, 6-1
2. Kaitlin Tan (BU) tied with Safiya Carrington (LSU): 6-3, 1-6, 1-1, unfinished
3. Erica Di Battista (BU) led #60 Paris Corley: 6-4, 1-4, unfinished
4. Maggie Cubitt (LSU) def. Emily Kim (BU): 6-4, 6-0
5. Eden Richardson (LSU) def. Lily Burchell (BU): 6-2, 6-2
6. Nina Geissler (LSU) led Katya Martens (BOSTONU) 6-2, 2-3, unfinished
Doubles
1. Geissler/Richardson (LSU) def. Burchell/Kim (BU): 6-4
2. #86 Bridges/Corley (LSU) def. Carlsten/Di Battista (BU): 6-0
3. Tan / Shelly Yaloz (BU) def. Carrington/Cubitt (LSU): 6-1
