Lady Vols Avenge Early Season Loss, Defeat No. 15 LSU, 4-0

Sunday, March 10

Knoxville, Tenn.

12:00 PM

University of Tennessee

LSU

Photo by: Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics

Lady Vols Avenge Early Season Loss, Defeat No. 15 LSU, 4-0

March 10, 2019 | Women's Tennis

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee women's tennis team capped off the weekend with another win over a top 25 team, this time taking down No. 15 LSU, 4-0.

The match was a rematch of the two teams' matchup during ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Tallahassee, Fla. in late January.

"You can't put into words how important this weekend was for our team," Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. "It's incredibly important not just because of winning, but because of what it does to our hearts.

"I think in order for a player to get to another level, there comes a time where you just have to take advantage of opportunities. Until you do that, it's hard to get to the next level. And I think that's what we've been able to do this weekend, and we're doing it across the board."

Tennessee (12-3, 2-1 SEC) has now beaten two top 25 teams in a span of three days, as the Lady Vols took down No. 21 Texas A&M on Friday, 4-2. The win over LSU (12-4, 2-2) is Tennessee's third over a top 25 team overall this season.

Tennessee won the doubles point for the 13^th time this season, highlighted by a victory in a top 10 matchup on Court 1.

Eighth-ranked Sadie Hammond and Kaitlin Staines took down third-ranked Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson to clinch the doubles point for the Lady Vols, 6-3. The win was Hammond and Staines' second win over Golovin and Richardson this season, as the Tennessee duo defeated the 2018 NCAA doubles champions in January at ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Tallahassee, Fla.

Golovin and Richardson have just two doubles losses this spring – both to Hammond and Staines.

The Lady Vols' number one doubles team is now 11-0 together during dual matches this season and registered two ranked wins over the course of this weekend. Hammond and Staines defeated No. 31 Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova of Texas A&M on Friday, 6-2.

Tennessee first doubles win came at the No. 2 spot, as Maia Haumuller and Tenika McGiffin defeated LSU's Anna Loughlan and Kennan Johnson, 6-2.

In singles, Rebeka Mertena grabbed Tennessee's first win of the afternoon, swiftly defeating Johnson in two sets, 6-2, 6-2. The Lady Vol freshman has now won seven singles matches in a row and sits at 11-2 in dual matches overall.

Haumuller, another freshman, quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anna Loughlan on Court 6 to push the Tennessee advantage to 3-0. Haumuller has also won seven singles matches in a row and is 10-2 in singles on the season.

Staines clinched the match for the Lady Vols at No. 2 singles, fighting back from down 5-3 in the first set to win the opening frame in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (3). The sophomore then cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set to secured the Tennessee win.

HOME SWEET HOME: Tennessee's win over LSU caps off an 11-match homestand that began on Feb. 10 and saw the Lady Vols compile a 9-2 (2-1 SEC) record. Tennessee has just four home matches remaining this season.

UP NEXT: Tennessee hits the road next weekend for its first pair of road SEC matches. The Lady Vols will face off against No. 9 South Carolina on Friday in Columbia, S.C. at 5 p.m. before traveling to Gainesville, Fla. for a 1 p.m. match against the No. 45 Florida Gators.

QUOTES

Head Coach Alison Ojeda

On the match overall:
"Our big talk over the last week has been about mental toughness, killer instinct and execution. You have to have all three at this level if you want to come out on top, and that's what we did. We did it on Friday and came out here today and did it again. We were so excited to play these guys because we felt like we didn't play our best against them a few weeks ago, and so we knew regardless of what happened with the doubles point, we knew we still had an opportunity to go out and win at six spots in singles. I'm incredibly impressed and proud of our team."

Assistant Coach Euan McIntosh

On the team's performance overall:
"I thought it was a complete team performance today. We came out from the first point in doubles and never looked back. On my courts, Kaitlin did an unbelievable job of fighting back. She was down 5-3 in the first set and again, just never looked back. That was kind of the mindset of all of the girls, they were going to get up and stay up. We did that and executed all around today."

Senior Sadie Hammond

On defeating two top 25 teams in three days:
"This weekend was huge. We've been looking forward to this match since January. I remember saying after we lost that we were going to play them again and that's when it really matters. So we've had LSU in the back of our minds for two months now. We prepared for every scenario today no matter what happened, and we prepared to win. And that's what we did."

On defeating the defending doubles NCAA champions twice in one season:
"There was no doubt in Kaitlin and I's minds that we were going to win the match. We studied film all week, had a clear gameplan and stuck to it and executed."

Sophomore Kaitlin Staines

On defeating two top 25 teams in three days:
"It's huge and provides such good momentum for us. This weekend was a really good opportunity for us to play some really good teams and we did what we wanted to do. Now we can set our goals for next weekend against some more really good teams.

"We all went out there believing in ourselves today and I think everyone really executed and we all knew what we wanted to do. I'm really happy with how everything today went."

RESULTS
No. 33 Tennessee 4, No. 15 LSU 0

Singles
1. #65 Sadie Hammond (UT) vs. #15 Eden Richardson (LSU), 6-7 (5), 3-2, unfinished
2. Kaitlin Staines (UT) def. Jessica Golovin (LSU), 7-6 (3), 6-2
3. Johanna Silva (UT) vs. Taylor Bridges (LSU), 6-1, 4-6, 0-0, unfinished
4. Rebeka Mertena (UT) def. Kennan Johnson (LSU), 6-2, 6-2
5. Tenika McGiffin (UT) vs. Paris Corley (LSU), 2-6, 5-4, unfinished
6. Maia Haumuller (UT) def. Anna Loughlan (LSU), 6-3, 6-4

Doubles
1. #8 Hammond/Staines (UT) def. #3 Golovin/Richardson (LSU), 6-3
2. McGiffin/Haumuller (UT) def. Loughlan/Johnson (LSU), 6-2
3. Mertena/Silva (UT) vs. Corley/Bridges (LSU), 4-2, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (4, 6, 2)