The Texas A&M women’s tennis team continues its homestand Friday as the Aggies play host to LSU in a pivotal Southeastern Conference match at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve against the Tigers is at 5 p.m.
General admission is free, and the first 100 fans will receive free popcorn.
“We have another important and highly competitive match on Friday against one of our rivals in LSU,” A&M head coach Mark Weaver said. “We are playing very well at the moment, and we hope to continue on with the momentum that we have at this crucial time of the season.”
The Aggies (13-4, 3-3 SEC) have won their last three matches and are in a four-way tie with LSU, Kentucky and Mississippi State for sixth place in the SEC standings. Most recently, A&M blanked Lamar, 7-0, in a non-conference match on Wednesday at the Mitchell Tennis Center to improve to 11-1 in home matches.
A&M is led by senior and 119th-ranked Domenica Gonzalez, who is 13-1 in singles dual matches, all at the No. 1 line. Freshman Riley McQuaid is 11-1, having seen action at the No. 4 line, where she is 7-0, as well as the No. 5 court, and senior Macarena Olivares is 12-4 in dual matches, all at No. 2.
LSU (12-4, 3-3 SEC) is coming off 4-2 victories against both No. 33 Arkansas and Missouri last weekend in Baton Rouge. The Tigers boast three ranked singles players, No. 63 Elyse Lavender, No. 80 Jessica Golovin and No. 120 Eden Richardson, who is 4-0 in SEC matches and is tied with Golovin with a team-best 13-1 record in all dual matches. Golovin and Richardson are No. 27 in doubles with a 9-2 dual match record, including a 3-0 mark in conference matches only.
In dual competitions only, A&M is a combined 66-22 (.750) in singles matches and 19-14 (.576) in doubles matches. LSU is 51-25 (.671) in singles and 18-18 (.500) in doubles.
A&M owns a 27-13 lead in the all-time series against LSU since the teams first met in 1980 and is 4-1 against the Tigers in SEC regular season matches. LSU picked up its first SEC victory in the series last year as the then-No. 16 Tigers defeated A&M, 4-2, at the LSU indoor courts in Baton Rouge. LSU got another win against the Aggies at the SEC Women’s Tennis Tournament as the 21st-ranked Tigers snapped No. 17 Texas A&M’s five-match winning streak with a 4-3 victory in second-round action at Vanderbilt's Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center in Nashville.
The Aggies conclude their home schedule next weekend as the play host to 24th-ranked Mississippi State on Friday, March 30 at 5 p.m. and No. 11 Ole Miss at 12 p.m. on Easter Sunday (April 1). Seniors Domenica Gonzalez, Eva Paalma and Macarena Olivares will be honored following the match against the Rebels.
