Women’s Tennis: Feb. 27 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
McNeese State 4, Louisiana-Monroe 3
Nicholls 5, New Orleans 2
Texas-Pan American 6, UIW 1
McNeese State 4, Louisiana-Monroe 3
LAKE CHARLES, La. – It was too close for comfort at the Nancy Hank Tennis Center on Friday afternoon as a showdown between the McNeese women’s tennis team and ULM came down to the wire with junior Anastasija Trubich’s clutch singles win was enough to defeat ULM 4-3 and score the Cowgirls’ first home win of the season.
With the match tied at three points per team and with all eyes on Court Six, Trubich took the first set with a 6-3 decision. Looking to score the first home win for the Cowgirls, Trubich gave everything she had and fought through a tough second set to defeat Kull 7-6 and score her first singles win on the season.
The victory was the first for McNeese (2-4) at home this season after spending nearly two months on the road. The loss was the third straight for ULM (4-3) who dropped its last two matches to Southland Conference members Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin.
The day started out well for the Cowgirls, as they took the doubles point from the Warhawks. First off the court was the team of Klaudia Gawlik and Trubich, as they easily defeated ULM’s team of Amy Olivier and Beata Kull 8-3 at the No. 1 spot. The No. 3 position was also a comfortable victory for McNeese, as Sarah Jurakova and Vivien Borbely took down the combo of Letha Gaigher and Jana Duhanova, clinching the doubles point for McNeese. The battle on Court Two went unfinished.
The Cowgirls took a three point lead following singles victories from sophomore Julia Kral on Court Two with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sophie Rufyikiri and a dominating performance by junior Klaudia Gawlik who defeated Amy Oliivier 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 1 spot.
With the win, Kral improved her singles record to a team-best 4-1 overall mark. Gawlik improved her record to 2-1 on the season.
ULM bounced back quickly to take the next three singles matches and tie the match up 3-3. Gaigher def. Borbely 6-4, 6-3 in the fifth position while Hannah Brett fell to Petra Horakova in the third position 6-2, 7-5. The match was tied after Duhanova took down Jurakova in a three-set match 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Next up, the Cowgirls will travel east on I-10 to take on in-state foe Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday, March 4. First serve is slated for a 2 o’clock start.
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Nicholls 5, New Orleans 2
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Nicholls State University women’s tennis team started out Southland Conference play on a high note as the Colonels defeated rival New Orleans, 5-2, on Friday evening at the University Tennis Center.
“The girls were tested by a resilient UNO team that played with only five girls but responded well and stepped it up when they needed to. We need to step it even more in practice so we can make a stronger statement,” said Meenakshi Sundaram, Nicholls tennis head coach.
Playing against a short-handed Privateer squad, the Colonels (5-2, 1-0 SLC) started the match with a 1-0 lead as New Orleans (6-5, 0-2 SLC) was unable to play the No. 6 match. In doubles, Nicholls needed to win just one match to earn the point with UNO forfeiting the No. 3 match. Kateryna Nakonechna and Isla Brock gave Nicholls a 2-0 lead after winning the No. 2 match over Anja Luethi/ Anna Segarra Ruis, 8-5.
In singles, Stephanie Barnett won the first set 7-5 in the No. 1 match against Soledad Calderon, dropped the second, 6-3, and dominated the third set, 6-1, for the victory. Marie Aubert also had to go three sets to earn a point at No. 3, defeating Luethi 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Isla Brock rounded out the winners with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Hafsa Laraibi.
The Colonels will play their second Southland matchup of the season on March 8 at McNeese State. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
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Texas-Pan American 6, UIW 1
EDINBURG, Texas – The University of the Incarnate Word women's tennis team were unable to break a four game losing streak on Friday, when they lost to the University of Texas-Pan American, 6-1 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center.
The Cardinals (1-10) dropped the opening group of matches giving the Broncs (4-6) an early lead after losing all three of the doubles competitions.
From there UIW were unable to match UTPA, losing five out of the six singles matches. For #1 seed Rachel Sadiq, a confident 7-5, 6-2 win over Dominique Esparza made it her second in a row despite the team's accumulative count falling short.
The Cardinals are back in action next weekend when they open up their Southland Conference season against Abilene Christian University. They play the Wildcats at the Eager Tennis Pavilion at 11:45 a.m.
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