Women’s Tennis Central: #14 Tennessee at #2 Texas A&M, #43 LSU

Back on the road, the 14th-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team prepares for another big weekend of matches, taking on No. 2 Texas A&M Friday in College Station, Texas, before wrapping up their road stretch against LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday.

The Lady Vols (13-3, 6-1 SEC) have a major opportunity to rebound from their first conference loss of the season last week at Georgia, taking on the preseason SEC-favorite Aggies at Mitchell Tennis Center with first serve slated for 6 p.m. ET. The match will be broadcast live on SEC Network+ as part of the Cracked Racquets' SEC whiparound coverage. Live stats and streams of just UT's match can be found HERE.

Sunday's match will commence at 1 p.m. ET at LSU Tennis Complex. Live streaming for the match is available HERE, while live scoring can be found HERE.

Esther Adeshina was the owner of Tennessee's only point in last weekend's match at Georgia. The junior simply dominated on Court 6 against the Bulldogs, carving up Guillermina Grant to a 6-0, 6-3, decision.

A PEEK AT THE CHARTS
Last Tuesday, the ITA updated its individual rankings. Below are each team's ranked singles and doubles players.

Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Singles
#34 Rebeka Mertena
#39 Daria Kuczer
#49 Elza Tomase

Doubles
#39 Esther Adeshina/Rebeka Mertena

Texas A&M Aggies
Singles
#3 Mary Stoiana
#54 Carson Branstine
#90 Gianna Pielet
#100 Mia Kupres
#101 Daria Smetannikov
#120 Jayci Goldsmith

Doubles
#3 Carson Branstine /Mary Stoiana
#43 Jayci Goldsmith/Mary Stoiana
#46 Salma Ewing/Jayci Goldsmith

LSU Tigers
Singles
#22 Kylie Collins
#27 Anastasiya Komar

Doubles
#30 Anastasiya Komar/Nikita Vishwase
#55 Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar
#73 Safiya Carrington/Anastasiya Komar

HEAD COACH ALISON OJEDA
"Our team learned a lot competing against a very good Georgia team last week and I'm thrilled that we get to go up against the No. 2 team in the country on Friday. Our team is ready for what will be a fun challenge. We are good and we know that we can compete at all nine spots, so I am looking forward to a good match."

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Texas A&M (19-1, 7-0 SEC) has been impressive throughout the year, losing just one match to North Carolina, 4-2, in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor National Championship on Feb. 12. The Aggies have been incredibly tough to face in College Station the last two years, entering Friday's match on a 29-match home winning streak.

TAMU has all six singles players inside the ITA Individual Rankings and boasts three ranked doubles pairings. They are led by #3 Mary Stoiana who is unbeaten, 10-0, at No. 1 this year.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
LSU (9-6, 2-5 SEC) is under the direction of new leadership in 2023 as Taylor Fogleman was announced as the program's new head coach in the summer of 2022. Fogleman's Tigers sit at No. 43 in the ITA Team Rankings and have battled hard in their ranked matches going into the weekend, but are winless against top-25 teams.

LSU lost both of their matches last weekend, falling to Auburn, 4-3, before losing to Alabama, 4-2. Both of those contests were on the road.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 11-7. The Aggies are 6-3 against the Lady Vols in College Station. Tennessee has not won at Texas A&M since 1996.

Tennessee leads LSU in the all-time series, 32-19. UT is 12-8 against the Tigers in Baton Rouge and is looking for its first win on the road since 2014.

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