No. 32 LSU Clips No. 34 WT in NCAA Tournament, 4-3

Friday, May 3

Stanford, Calif.

12 PM

Baylor

LSU

No. 32 LSU Clips No. 34 WT in NCAA Tournament, 4-3

5/3/2024 4:19:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

STANFORD, Calif. – Three points. That proved to be the difference in a match that lasted over three hours, with 32^nd-ranked LSU pulling out a 4-3 win that ended 34^th-ranked Baylor's season on Friday in a first-round NCAA regional at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

Those three points came at No. 3 doubles, with the Tigers' Florentine Dekkers and Aran Garcia defeating Isabella Harvison and Zuzanna Kubacha, 7-6(4), with a 7-4 advantage in the tiebreaker, to clinch doubles and put the first point on the board.

"Ultimately, we want Baylor tennis to mean more than just winning and losing," said Baylor coach Joey Scrivano, whose team finished 17-13 with its 18^th NCAA Tournament appearance in his 21 seasons at the helm.

"We want that spirit to be there. And this team has made huge strides putting the team in front of themselves and playing for Baylor. Today was one of those days where we lost, but I didn't feel like we were losers."

Bouncing back from the doubles-point loss, Baylor won four of the six first sets in singles, putting the Bears in position to potentially pull out the match.

South Florida transfer Sierra Berry, who also teamed with junior Liubov Kostenko to take down the 52^nd-ranked doubles team in the country at No. 1, got Baylor's first point on the board and evened the match with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Keena Erickson at No. 6 singles.

"Sierra was a really big boost for us, because she's struggled this year," Scrivano said of Berry, who is just 3-14 in dual-match singles and hadn't won in a month. "She just did a great job of believing in herself and going out there and just competing. Really proud of her, that's a heck of an effort."

After LSU (16-10) regained the lead with a straight-set win over Harvison at No. 2, Kostenko recorded arguably the biggest win of her collegiate career. The Baylor junior defeated fellow Ukranian and former BU teammate Anita Sahdiieva, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 3 singles to make it 2-2.

"There was obviously a lot of history between those two, former teammates and countrywomen; and they've played a million times," Scrivano said. "For someone that she couldn't beat last season, to show how much she's improved, that was really big."

With the last three matches pushed to three sets, Iowa State transfer Miska Kadleckova got to the finish line with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 win over Dekkers at No. 1 singles. But fifth-year senior Maya Tahan edged freshman Kubacha, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 4 and redshirt junior Gaby Rivera closed it out with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over sophomore Danielle Tuhten at No. 5.

"Ultimately, I think our youth at those positions showed," Scrivano said. "Dani's a sophomore, but she didn't play in the NCAA Tournament last year. And they handled it really well. LSU is just way more experienced, particularly at that 4 spot, where they had a fifth-year player (Tahan, a Miami transfer)."

Trailing 3-0 in the third set, Kadleckova did "just a masterful job of staying calm, staying in the present and kind of withstood the LSU player's streaks" to win six of the last seven games, Scrivano said.

The Bears lose Kadleckova and Harvison in the top two singles spots, but they will return an experienced lineup and signed rising Japanese star Nanaka Sato in the November signing period. She was the runner-up in the 2023 U.S. Open junior doubles and also claimed the Japan National High School Singles title last year.

"They all know that they have to pay the price in the offseason," Scrivano said. "We've got to get better as a team, got to make strides individually. That will really help the collective if everybody does their part individually."

LSU advances to face second-ranked Stanford (23-2) in the second round at 3 p.m. CT Saturday.

STANFORD, Calif. -- No. 34 Baylor women's tennis fell to No. 32 LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Center.

LSU (16-10) used the doubles point, and wins on three singles courts to secure the win, with match decided in three matches that went to a third set. Baylor (17-13) rallied from down the doubles point to earn wins on court 1, court 3 and court 6.

The Bears' rally fell short in doubles, clinching on courts 1 but fell on court 2 and 3. After Gaby Rivera and Maya Tahan posted a 6-2 win over Miska Kadleckova and Danielle Tuhten, the Bears evened it with a 6-3 win from No. 89 Sierra Berry and Zuzanna Kubacha over No. 52 Keena Erickson and Anita Sahdiieva. On court 3, the match went to a tiebreak, with the Tigers jumping out to a 4-2 lead and clinching the point, 7-6 (7-4).

To open singles, Berry made quick work of Kenna Erickson on court 6, 6-4, 6-3 to even the match at 1-1.

After a singles win from No. 110 Aran Garcia over senior Isabella Harvison on court 2 to take a 2-1 lead, the Bears answered on court 3 behind Liubov Kostenko, topping Sahdiieva, 7-5, 6-4, to even the match at 2-2.

It then came down to three courts in decisive third sets, with the Bears needing to claim two of the three for the win.

A senior All-Big 12 Conference selection, Kadleckova improved to 17-4 in singles play in 2024 with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 winner over No. 101 Florentine Dekkers. It improved her to 3-3 vs. nationally ranked foes in 2024 and gave her 116 career singles wins.

Tahan pushed the Tigers a point away from clinching with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 winner on court 4, leaving the match for a tight third set on court 5.

Rivera outlasted Tuhten, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on court 5 to clinch the match for the Tigers.

The season marked another historic one for the Bears, who advanced to their 25^th all-time NCAA Tournament and the 18^th in 21 years under Coach Joey Scrivano, the winningest coach in program annals.

RESULTS
Singles
No. 1 – #95 Miska Kadleckova def. #101 Florentine Dekkers: 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 – #110 Aran Garcia def. Isabella Harvison: 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 – Liubov Kostenko def. Anita Sahdiieva: 7-5, 6-4
No. 4 – Maya Tahan def. Zuzanna Kubacha: 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 – Gaby Rivera def. Danielle Tuhten: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Sierra Berry def. Kenna Erickson: 6-4, 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 – Sierra Berry/Liubov Kostenko def. #52 Kenna Erickson/Anita Sahdiieva: 6-3
No. 2 – Gaby Rivera/Maya Tahan def. Miska Kadleckova/Danielle Tuhten: 6-2
No. 3 – Florentine Dekkers/Aran Garcia def. Isabella Harvison/Zuzanna Kubacha: 7-6(4)

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