Women’s Tennis: March 24 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
McNeese State 6, Central Arkansas 1
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6, New Orleans 1
McNeese State 6, Central Arkansas 1
LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese women’s tennis won five of six singles matches on its way to a 6-1 Southland Conference victory over Central Arkansas Tuesday.
“Today was a good day for us,” said head coach Helena Besovic. “We fought hard and played with a lot of confidence. UCA is a talented team and this is a great win for us. It sets us up for the upcoming matches on the road this week.”
After McNeese took a 1-0 lead following doubles play in which the Cowgirls took two out of three matches, McNeese cruised to their seventh overall win of the season to improve to 7-5 and 3-1 in conference action.
The no. 2 doubles duo of Julia Kral and Hannah Brett picked up the first doubles victory with an 8-2 win over UCA’s Kelsey Williams and Allison Murphy. After UCA’s Bianca Sturkelj and Kristina Horsikyan defeated McNeese’s Sarah Jurakova and Vivien Borbely in a tie-breaker 8-7 (4), the doubles point was clinched with an 8-3 win by the Cowgirls’ no. 1 singles team comprised of Klaudia Gawlik and Anastasija Trubich defeated Nataly Yoo and Cassidy Crawford.
McNeese won four singles matches in straight sets, clinching the overall match with a Jurakova 6-1, 6-4) win over Crawford at the no. 5 singles.
Also picking up straight set wins was Kral at no. 2, Brett at no. 3 and Trubich at no. 6. Borbely picked up a tiebreaker win 6-2, 4-6 (10-6) over Murphy at no. 4. Gawlik retired at the no. 1 singles after the first set due to an illness.
“I think that we still haven’t reached our full potential as a team and that we have so much more to give and prove, which is a very exciting thing. We work very hard and our goal is to become better with every match that we play,” said Besovic.
McNeese will hit the road with contests at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday, March 27 at 5 p.m. followed by a match at Incarnate Word on Sunday, March 29 at 11 a.m.
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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6, New Orleans 1
NEW ORLEANS, La. –The women's team (8-6, 2-2 SLC) battled New Orleans for four and a half hours and in the end claimed their second straight Southland Conference win of the season with 6-1 victory over UNO (9-7, 2-4 SLC). The Islanders clinched the doubles point before winning five singles matches, including three three-setters.
"Just a strong salute to our women's team today," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "They had a tough start, going 0-2 against two of the top teams in our conference and then they go on the road in Louisiana and pull out both matches just fighting and being gritty. The gritty toughness that these girls showed really represents the heart of this team.
"I'm always so proud of the character of these girls but never more than the character they showed to go on the road and grind out these two matches. Their character isn't just good, it's exceptional. They are back in the hunt now and they know it. Sometimes I think the road is good for us because we bond together, we fight for each other and we are all each other has. Sometimes you need a good road trip to springboard your team."
In doubles play, the junior tandem of Celia Rodriguez and Maider Martin teamed up for an 8-3 win over Soledad Calderon and Marta Sans at No. 1 doubles for their second straight conference win. The freshman-senior duo of Jelena Dzinic and Chelsea Horan then defeated Anja Luethi and Anna Segarra Rius, 8-5, to clinch the doubles point and their fourth straight match at No. 2 doubles.
The Islanders kept things rolling in their favor as they garnered three straight singles matches to capture the match. At No. 5 singles, Kerry Galhos breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 straight-set win over Yasmine Rashad, before Martin earned her 10th win of the season at No. 4 singles. The junior defeated Rius 6-4, 7-5 for the Islanders' third point of the day. Horan then followed suit with a tough three-set win at No. 6 singles over Hafsa Laraibi to clinch the match. The senior dropped the first set, 6-2, before bouncing back to garner a 6-4 second-set win. In the third, Horan cruised to a 6-3 third-set win.
The Islanders and Privateers finished out the match as all three went into third sets. Dzinic defeated Luethi, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, before UNO earned their first point of the day at No. 1 singles. Judit Vives fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) to Calderon before Rodriguez improved to 7-0 at No. 3 singles in the final match of the day. She edged out Sans 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5 to improve to 8-3 on the year.
The women's team will return home to host McNeese State on Friday, March 27, at 5 p.m. at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
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