Women's Tennis: Feb. 5 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
Southeastern Louisiana 5, Alcorn State 2
Nicholls 7, Xavier (La.) 0
Southeastern Louisiana 5, Alcorn State 2
HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana freshmen Dany Raygadas, Madina Vorotnikova and Lucia Bustamante each picked up their first collegiate dual match victories as the Lions opened the spring with a 5-2 victory over Alcorn State in non-conference tennis action Thursday afternoon at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
SLU (1-0) was never threatened. The Lions won four of six singles matches and swept all three doubles matches.
Southeastern opened the match with three dominant doubles victories. At No. 1, junior Renee Villarreal and freshman Anna Bryukhova were too much for the ASU pair of Aida Kelic and Ekaterina Potopova. Villarreal, who is playing with her third partner in as many seasons, was pleased with her team’s efforts in their first match together.
“We have a very good connection,” Villarreal said. “Anna really knows where to position herself and get in the right spot. We both want to be aggressive and we know which ball is for which person. I think we’re going to have a great season.”
On the No. 2 court, Raygadas and Bustamante handled Siobhan Ryan-Bovey and Ivana Boberic, 6-2. Sophomores Margaux Kaltenbacher and Avika Sagwal made it a clean sweep for the Lions, blanking ASU’s Aakansha Punj and Patricia Normand, 6-0.
In singles play, Raygadas helped SLU jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Queretaro, Mexico native made short work of Punj in a 6-1, 6-1 victory on No. 5.
Vorotnikova pushed the lead to 3-0 on the No. 6 court. The Moscow, Russia native was excited about her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Normand.
“This was my first match and I was a little nervous at first,” Vorotnikova said. “Then I settled down and realized, ‘This is why I came here’. I wanted to be a part of a team and play for a university. Tennis is the game that I love and it’s very special to me to be able to represent Southeastern.”
After two newcomers set the table, the Lions went to an old reliable source to clinch the victory. Villarreal, a two-time All-Southland Conference and All-Louisiana selection, handled Ryan-Bovey, 6-4, 6-4 to give SLU the match-clinching fourth point. The Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico native’s victory improved her career singles mark to 40-4.
After Alcorn got on the board with wins on the No. 2 and 3 courts, Bustamante closed out the match at No. 5. The Guayaquil, Ecuador product shook off a rough second set to earn a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over Boberic.
“I needed to give my best,” Bustamante said of her mindset heading into the third set. “I knew I would do everything I could in order to win.”
Southeastern will be back in action on Friday, hosting Southern at 2 p.m. at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
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Nicholls 7, Xavier (La.) 0
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Nicholls State University women’s tennis team headed to New Orleans on Thursday to take on nationally-ranked NAIA Xavier (La.) and the Colonels came away with a dominating 7-0 victory at the XU Tennis Center.
After winning two doubles matches to earn a 1-0 lead, the Colonels breezed through singles play against the Gold Nuggets. All six victories were in straight sets, including a dominating 6-0, 6-0 win by Kateryna Nakonechna over Brandi Nelson on the No. 5 court. Milou Pietersz also earned a shutout in her second set as she defeated Sha’Nel Bruins at No. 3, 6-2, 6-0.
For the rest of the singles lineup, Klara Skopac won 7-5, 6-2 over Carmen Nelson at No. 1, Marie Aubert defeated No. 32 Brion Flowers at No. 2 by winning both sets 6-2 and Isla Brock won on the No. 4 court, 6-3, 6-2. Emma Kranendonk also picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win on the No. 6 court.
In doubles, Aubert and Skopac teamed up for a 6-2 win at No. 3 and Pietersz/Stephanie Barnett also won 6-2 on the No. 1 court.
Nicholls will return to action on Feb. 13 at ULM. First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m.
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