The LSU women’s tennis team defeated No. 1-seeded Oklahoma, 4-3, in a closely contested match on April 17 at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Sophomore Ella McDonald secured the victory for ninth-seeded LSU with a straight-sets win on court three.
This win advances LSU to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) semifinals for the first time since 2015 and marks only the fifth appearance in program history. The Tigers improved their season record to 18-8 while Oklahoma dropped to 23-5.
Head coach Taylor Fogleman said, “Tremendous tennis match today. Oklahoma is one of the top teams in the country and a co-SEC regular season champion, so to compete like that on their home courts says a lot about our group. We knew it would be a challenge, and I knew our girls would rise to it. I thought we were right there in doubles, but the environment made things really tough late, and Oklahoma just edged us out. Our response in singles, though, was spectacular. In matches like these, there are always ebbs and flows, and we saw that throughout today, but our toughness and grit were exactly where they needed to be. I’m extremely proud and excited for this team. They’ve been working incredibly hard together to achieve something special. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, but we know there’s more ahead with another strong opponent tomorrow, whether it’s Texas or Georgia. We’ll rest, recover, and be ready for another great opportunity.”
The doubles competition saw Kuhl/Lanton fall on court three before Erickson/McDonald evened things with a win on court two; however Brace/Cross lost narrowly against Gilheany/Nahum giving Oklahoma an early lead by taking the doubles point.
In singles play LSU rallied as Cadence Brace won convincingly over Evialina Laskevich while Addison Lanton also secured her match against Chloe Noel tying up overall scores after initial setbacks from Kenna Erickson’s loss on court four.
With wins from Carolina Kuhl over Salakthip Ounmuang setting up McDonald’s decisive performance against Julia Garcia Ruiz—winning both sets via tiebreak—the Tigers clinched their place in Saturday’s semifinal round where they will face either Texas or Georgia at 3:00 p.m.
This result represents significant progress for LSU’s program as they aim for further advancement within conference tournament play.
