Lady Vols end losing streak by sweeping LSU

After suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the 13th-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team bounced back Sunday, shutting out No. 21 LSU, 7-0, at Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center.

Not only did the Lady Vols (11-4, 4-2 SEC) win all 10 matches against the Tigers (11-6, 1-4), but they did it without dropping set.

The sweep is UT's third of the season and first in SEC play.

"Our team played lights out today," UT co-head coach Sonia Hahn-Patrick said. "The main difference between today and our last couple of matches was that we just came out relaxed and on a mission to win. We've been putting too much pressure on ourselves to be successful rather than just going out there, having fun and putting the pressure on the other team.

"Hopefully, this will get our confidence up as we head into our final road trip of the season," Hahn-Patrick said. "There have been so many upsets in the conference this year that every match we have left is important. Alabama and Auburn are always two very well-coached teams and are always tough at home. We're looking forward to the challenge though."

For the fifth time this season, the Lady Vols earned a sweep of all three doubles contests to jump out to the early advantage.

The Lady Vols will take their final road trip of the season this weekend when they play at No. 17 Alabama on Friday and No. 31 Auburn on Sunday.

Men's Tennis: The fifth-ranked Vols took LSU's best shot Sunday afternoon but stopped the Tigers' upset bid 4-3 at W.T. "Dub" Robinson Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

Tennessee (16-3, 5-1 SEC) remains tied with third-ranked Georgia for first in the SEC Eastern Division. LSU falls to 6-8, 1-5).

"It was a great weekend of SEC tennis," head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "It's the best conference in the country and every match is going to come down to the wire. As a team we seem to be tough enough to come through in these close matches. (Associate head coach) Chris (Woodruff) and I couldn't be more proud of the guys and how they performed today."

With the match tied at three, freshman Christian Hansen clinched the victory for UT with a come-from-behind three-set victory on court six, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

It was the fifth time this season that Hansen has clinched a UT victory and the second time he has won a match for the Vols when the match was tied at three.

"He's been in a position where he's needed to come through and he has," Winterbotham said. "You have to give Christian a tremendous amount of credit, he's just tough. He does a great job of playing his game throughout the match and especially in close matches. Those are the guys that win 4-3 matches because they stay committed to how they normally play and Christian does that very well."

The Vols play their final home matches of the regular season next weekend when they face Alabama on Friday and Auburn on Sunday.