March 8, 2015

BATON ROUGE, La. — The No. 26 South Carolina women’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss at No. 46 LSU on Sunday at W.T. `Dub’ Robinson Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. South Carolina dropped to 8-5 and 1-3 in the SEC, while the Tigers improved to 10-5 and 2-2 in league matches.

South Carolina handled the Tigers in doubles play, registering victories at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions with the No. 3 match remaining unfinished. Meghan Blevins and Brigit Folland got the first win on court two with an 8-3 triumph over Skylar Kuykendall and Abigail Owens to improve to 21-4 on the season. No. 58 Hadley Berg and Caroline Dailey secured the Gamecock point by ousting Joana Vale Costa and Noel Scott 8-5 at the top slot. LSU’s Skylar Holloway and Amanda Atanasson led Megen Cochran and Elixane Lechemia 7-5 when play was stopped with the doubles point being clinched.

LSU quickly regained the lead in singles with a pair of straight set victories. Kuykendall defeated No. 124 Dailey on court two 6-1, 6-4, and Ella Taylor followed with a 6-4, 6-1 win against Berg at the No. 5 spot.

Lechemia led Vale Costa 3-1 in the third set at one once the Tigers took the lead, while Blevins was trailing Owens 2-1 in the third at four. The first sets at three and six both went to tiebreakers and consequently were still in the second sets. Folland lost her tiebreak to Scott but led 3-2 in the second at three. Ximena Siles Luna won her tiebreak over Holloway and had a 1-0 advantage to start the second.

Lechemia advanced her position to 4-1 over Vale Costa and appeared in control, but her opponent rallied to win five straight games to take the win and give LSU the victory. Before Vale Costa rallied, Owens held off Blevins 6-2 in the third to get the Tigers their third point. Scott made it 5-1 for the Tigers after she posted a 7-6, 7-5 decision over Folland.

Siles Luna and Holloway were the only two left with the team outcome already decided. Holloway came back to win the second to put the match in a third set super tiebreaker to determine the winner. Siles ended up holding on for a 10-7 win in the breaker to give Carolina its lone victory in singles.

The Gamecocks will make another trip west of the Mississippi next weekend as well. South Carolina faces Missouri on March 13 at 6 p.m. and No. 44 Arkansas on March 15 at noon.

#46 LSU def. #26 South Carolina, 5-2

Singles
1. Joana Vale Costa (LSU) def. #121 Elixane Lechemia (SC), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
2. Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) def. #124 Caroline Dailey (SC), 6-1, 6-4
3. Noel Scott (LSU) def. Brigit Folland (SC), 7-6, 7-5
4. Abigail Owens (LSU) def. Meghan Blevins (SC), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
5. Ella Taylor (LSU) def. Hadley Berg (SC), 6-4, 6-1
6. Ximena Siles Luna (SC) def. Skylar Holloway (LSU), 7-6, 4-6, (10-7)

Order of Finish: 2, 5, 4, 1, 3, 6

Doubles
1. #58 Berg/Dailey (SC) def. Vale Costa/Scott (LSU), 8-5
2. Blevins/Folland (SC) def. Kuykendall/Owens (LSU), 8-3
3. Megen Cochran/Lechemia (SC) vs. Holloway/Amanda Atanasson (LSU), 5-7 susp.

Order of Finish: 2, 1