BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU women’s tennis team (2-0) opened the 2024 dual season with two wins against in-state foes on Saturday inside the LSU Tennis Complex. The Tigers began the day with a 5-2 win over Louisiana Tech (0-1) and ended it with a 6-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) later in the evening.

Taylor’s Thoughts
“So proud of the ladies,” head coach Taylor Fogleman said. “The past few weeks of practice have been excellent, so it was nice to see their hard work pay off today on the courts. So many players earned their first dual wins for LSU and even first college wins today, which was a special thing to see. We’ll rest up and get ready to head to Pepperdine for an excellent opportunity to play in the ITA Kickoff Weekend.”

Doubles Results – Louisiana Tech
The first match of the day began at 10 a.m. CT as the Tigers and Bulldogs hit first serves in doubles. Kinaa Graham and Anita Sahdiieva set the tempo for the day as they earned a 6-0 win over Ana Rodrigues and Valentina Vasquez on Saturday at the No. 1 doubles court.

The doubles point was clinched moments later as Florentine Dekkers and Aran Teixidó Garcia defeated Olga Bienzobas and Alexia Romero by a score of 6-2 at the No. 2 doubles spot.

Singles Results – Louisiana Tech
Garcia clinched the doubles point and carried that momentum to her singles match as she was the first player off the courts with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep over Valentina Vasquez at the No. 3 singles court, making it 2-0 to the Tigers on the day.

The lead was extended to 3-0 on the night after Maya Tahan secured her first win in Purple & Gold with a straight set win over Zoie Epps at the No. 5 court. Tahan took the first set, 6-2, and only dropped one game in the second set to win 6-1.

The Tigers clinched the first team victory of the day as Dekkers took down Ana Rodrigues, 6-1, 6-3, at the No. 2 spot to make it 4-0 in the match.

LSU’s fifth and final point of the match came from Sahdiieva, who took down Tiffani Nash at the No. 4 court. Sahdiieva dropped only one game in the first set to win 6-1 before holding off a charge from Nash in the second with a narrow 7-5 win to secure her court.

The Bulldogs got one back at the top singles court, where Bienzobas defeated No. 56 Kinaa Graham. Graham claimed the first set, 6-4, before Bienzobas replied with a 6-4 win of her own to force the match into a ten-point tiebreaker in the third set. The tiebreaker went the way of the Bulldog, who won 10-4 to claim a ranked win.

The team score settled at 5-2 as Romero defeated freshman Kenna Erickson at the No. 6 spot. Erickson won the first set 6-2, but Romero struck back with a 6-4 win in the second set to force a ten-point tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was a seesaw affair, with neither player able to pull ahead of the other. Romero eventually pulled out consecutive points to win 11-9 and score Louisiana Tech’s final point of the day.

The match saw Garcia, Tahan, Dekkers, Graham and Sahdiieva all claim their first singles or doubles wins as LSU Tigers in a lineup that featured newcomers at all six singles spots and all three doubles spot.

Doubles Results – Southeastern Louisiana
After a three-hour break, the Tigers returned to the courts to face Southeastern with first serve at 4 p.m. CT. The graduate student-freshman pairing of Tahan and Erickson opened doubles on fire, blanking Bogi Csordas and Alba Perez at the No. 3 doubles court.

The Tigers locked up the doubles point as Dekkers and Garcia once again clinched with a win at the No. 2 spot. The duo took down Taisia Bolsova and P. Suanarsa by a score of 6-1.

The final doubles match between the duo of Graham and Sahdiieva and Bente Berma and Leana Gomez was allowed to finish, despite not finishing before the doubles point was clinched. The LSU duo overcame a slow start to the match to win 6-4 and give LSU a perfect record 3-0 record in doubles against the visiting Lions.

Singles Results – Southeastern Louisiana
Dekkers gave LSU a 2-0 lead and finished a perfect 4-0 in singles and doubles after taking down Claudia Di Leonardo in straight sets at the No. 2 spot.  Dekkers blanked Di Leonardo, 6-0, and won the second set by a score of 6-2.

The lead stretched to 3-0 after Garcia secured a straight set win over Suanarsa at the No. 4 singles spot. Garcia blanked her foe, 6-0, and stayed on top throughout the second set as she won 6-3 to join her doubles teammate Dekkers with a perfect 4-0 playing record across both matches.

LSU’s second team win of the day was clinched by Sahdiieva, who claimed victory at the No. 3 court. Sahdiieva dropped one game in set one to win, 6-1, and only dropped two in the second as she won 6-2 to clinch her court and give LSU that important fourth point of the match. Like Dekkers and Garcia, Sahdiieva finished a perfect 2-0 in both singles and doubles to end the day with an unbeaten record.

No. 56-ranked Graham bounced back from her singles defeat in the first match with a straight set win over Alba Perez at the top singles court. Graham claimed the first set in comfortable fashion, 6-2, and went on to win the second by a margin of 6-3.

At the No. 5 court, a strong finish from Erickson saw her claim her first collegiate singles wins as she defeated Bolsova. The Lakeway, Texas native claimed the first set by a margin of 6-3 to take the lead in the match. The second set saw Bolsova battle back and split ten games at 5-5. Erickson showed poise and grit as she claimed the next two games to win 7-5 and score her first point for the LSU Tigers, who she just joined a few weeks prior after signing on in November.

The final match of the night featured freshman Emma Grant making her dual match debut against Csordas at the No. 6 court. Csordas narrowly claimed a 7-5 win in the first set, but Grant battled back with a strong 6-2 outing in the second set to force the match into a ten-point tiebreaker. The ten-point tiebreaker was a high energy affair, with both players’ teammates and the crowd inside the LSU Tennis Complex all watching. The two players staved off match points from one another to extend the match, but Csordas was able to claim the final two points as she won 15-13 to score Southeastern’s lone point of the match.

Up Next
The Tigers head west to participate in the 2024 ITA Kickoff Weekend, facing Loyola Marymount in the Malibu regional at 3 p.m. CT on Friday, January 26.

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For more information on the LSU women’s tennis program follow the Tigers on Twitter @lsuwten , on Instagram @LSUWTen , and on www.Facebook.com/lsuwten.

Louisiana Tech vs. LSU
Jan. 20, 2024
LSU Tennis Complex

LSU 5, Louisiana Tech 2

Singles

1. Olga Bienzobas (TECH) def. #56 Kinaa Graham (LSU) 4-6, 6-4, 10-4
2. Florentine Dekkers (LSU) def. Ana Rodrigues (TECH) 6-1, 6-3
3. Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. Valentina Vasquez (TECH) 6-0, 6-0
4. Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Tiffani Nash (TECH) 6-1, 7-5
5. Maya Tahan (LSU) def. Zoie Epps (TECH) 6-2, 6-1
6. Alexia Romero (TECH) def. Kenna Erickson (LSU) 2-6, 6-4, 11-9

Doubles

1. Kinaa Graham/Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Ana Rodrigues/Valentina Vasquez (TECH) 6-0
2. Florentine Dekkers/Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. Olga Bienzobas/Alexia Romero (TECH) 6-2
3. Maya Tahan/Kenna Erickson (LSU) vs. Tiffani Nash/Zoie Epps (TECH) 3-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Louisiana Tech 0-1
LSU 1-0
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,5,2,4,1)
Official: Richie Weaver T-2:15 A-45

Southeastern vs. LSU
Jan. 20, 2024
LSU Tennis Complex

LSU 6, Southeastern 1

Singles

1. #56 Kinaa Graham (LSU) def. Alba Perez (SLU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Florentine Dekkers (LSU) def. Claudia Di Leonardo (SLU) 6-0, 6-2
3. Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Bente Bierma (SLU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. P. Suanarsa (SLU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Kenna Erickson (LSU) def. Taisia Bolsova (SLU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Bogi Csordas (SLU) def. Emma Grant (LSU) 7-5, 2-6, 15-13

Doubles

1. Kinaa Graham/Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Bente Bierma/Leana Gomez (SLU) 6-4
2. Florentine Dekkers/Aran Teixido Garcia (LSU) def. Taisia Bolsova/P. Suanarsa (SLU) 6-1
3. Kenna Erickson/Maya Tahan (LSU) def. Bogi Csordas/Alba Perez (SLU) 6-0

Match Notes:
Southeastern 0-1
LSU 2-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,3,1,5,6)
Official: Richie Weaver T-2:30 A-83