Tennis Almost Pulls Upset at No. 27 LSU , 4-3

BATON ROUGE, La. ? Despite winning the doubles point, the University of Colorado tennis team found themselves coming up on the short end, falling to No. 27 ranked LSU, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon at the W.T. "Dub" Robinson Tennis Stadium in Baton Rouge.

The near miss in Baton Rouge snaps the Buffaloes winning streak at five matches and fall to 6-7 on the season, while the Lady Tigers broke a three-match losing skid improving to 9-6. Five of LSU's six losses have come against schools ranked in the top 20.

The 4-3 loss is the fifth time this season the Buffaloes have fallen by that margin.

Wednesday's match up with LSU was only the second meeting between the two schools since 1987 with the Lady Tigers claiming both victories.

CU saw singles victories at the bottom the singles ladder with sophomore Melisa Esposito and junior Franziska Jendrian securing points at the No. 5 and No. 6 slots. Esposito and Jendrian each won their sixth and fifth consecutive singles match, respectively with straight set wins.

Colorado began the day taking a 1-0 advantage winning two of three doubles points with a pair of tandems keeping their winning streaks intact. The Buffaloes drew first blood behind the No. 3 team of freshman Abbie Probert and senior Gleisy Torres Torres with a convincing 8-2 winner. It was Probert/Torres Torres' seventh straight victory, and eighth win in nine outings this spring.

LSU followed and evened doubles competition taking the No. 1 slot, however, CU clinched its fifth straight doubles point victory dating back to March 8 with an 8-5 winner led by Esposito and Jendrian. Esposito/Jendrian won their sixth straight match at No. 2 and remained unbeaten this year at 9-0.

With a CU 1-0 lead, the nationally ranked Lady Tigers rallied to take a 2-1 edge on the scoreboard sweeping the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions.

Jendrian evened the match at two with her 54th career singles victory (ninth of the spring). The home team took the lead once again for a 3-2 edge with a win at No. 3, while Esposito evened the match for CU at three with her 34^th career triumph (eighth of the spring).

The match was decided at the No. 4 slot with LSU sophomore Hannah Robinson out-dueling CU senior Veera Nurmi in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The loss snapped Nurmi's six-match winning streak, while Robinson won her 11^th of the dual campaign.

CU continues its three-match road trip traveling to No. 2 ranked Baylor (17-2, 3-0), Friday, March 28 in Waco, Texas. CU and BU are two of the conference's last four unbeaten schools in Big 12 play.

No. 27 LSU 4, No. 67 Colorado 3

LSU (9-6), CU (6-7)

March 26, Baton Rouge, La.

1d) Falcon/Hedberg (LSU) def. Belassi/Milewski (CU) 8-5

2d) Esposito/Jendrian (CU) def. Kantor/Spencer (LSU) 8-5

3d) Torres Torres/Abbie Probert (CU) def. Robinson/Adamek (LSU) 8-2

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

1s) #19 Megan Falcon (LSU) def. Monica Milewski (CU) 6-1, 6-2

2s) Mykala Hedberg (LSU) def. Camila Belassi (CU) 6-2, 6-0

3s) Nicole Kantor (LSU) def. Gleisy Torres Torres (CU) 6-1, 6-2

4s) Hannah Robinson (LSU) def. Veera Nurmi (CU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

5s) Melisa Esposito (CU) def. Staten Spencer (LSU) 7-5, 6-4

6s) Franziska Jendrian (CU) def. Kylie Adamek (LSU) 6-3, 6-2

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

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Players Mentioned

Camila Belassi

Melisa Esposito

Franziska Jendrian

Monica Milewski

Veera Nurmi

Abbie Probert

Gleisy Torres Torres