Women's Tennis: April 15 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
Stephen F. Austin 4, Central Arkansas 3
Abilene Christian 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
New Orleans 4, Southeastern Louisiana 1
Stephen F. Austin 4, Central Arkansas 3
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin needed a sweep in the doubles competition to finally outlast Central Arkansas 4-3 at the Schlief Tennis Complex. The win keeps SFA in the hunt for at least a share of the Southland Conference regular season title, improving 8-1 in SLC play and 14-6 overall.
It took a while to finally get the Ladyjacks and Bears on the court facing each other as the original date in March was rained out, then relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, before being shifted a final time to the Schlief Tennis Center. But once the two teams took to the court, it proved to be worth the wait.
With both SFA and UCA having to play at least three matches in the next five days, the two teams decided to stage the singles matches first, then play the doubles competition should it be necessary. Things started out well for the Ladyjacks as Malena Gordo earned a 6-1, 6-4 decision in the No. 1 spot, followed by a 6-2, 6-2 win by Vivienne Kulicke, who moved up to the No. 2 spot.
Julia Lorca earned a 7-5, 6-1 decision in the No. 6 spot, with Denise Maxl falling 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 3 spot, giving SFA the 3-1 lead with two matches to play. UCA then rallied to take the No. 4 and No. 5 singles, tying the match and forcing the two teams to stage the doubles competition to break the tie.
Playing in its final home match of the year, SFA then used that home court advantage in doubles play, beginning with an 8-4 decision by Julia Lorca and Denise Maxl. The Ladyjacks then clinched the match with an 8-6 win by Vivienne Kulicke and Valeria Terentyeva, followed by an 8-7 victory by Malena Gordo and Dhanielly Quevedo to close out the sweep in the doubles.
SFA has two matches remaining in the regular season, both of which will be on the road with both regular season title and postseason seeding implications on the line. The Ladyjacks head to Huntsville for a 1 p.m. match against rival Sam Houston State Saturday afternoon before heading to Beaumont for a Sunday morning match against Lamar to close out the regular season.
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Abilene Christian 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
ABILENE, Texas – One day shy of being a year removed from a 6-1 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Abilene Christian women's tennis team avenged that defeat Wednesday night on a near-perfect evening in front of its largest crowd of the season by defeating the Islanders for its third-straight Southland Conference victory, 4-3.
The victory lifted the Wildcats' overall record to 11-6 and clinched their second-consecutive winning season in league play at 6-4. They will play their final Southland dual Friday evening at Central Arkansas before concluding their 2015 campaign next week in picturesque Ojai, Calif.
ACU started its dual with back-to-back doubles wins at No. 2 and 1. Freshman Whitney Williams and Erin Walker speedily won their match at No. 2, 8-3, over Jelena Dzinic and Chelsea Horan, but the No. 1 duo of senior Brittney Reed and junior Kaysie Hermsdorf had to claw their way back from several deficits.
After getting down 5-3, Reed and Hermsdorf twice rallied to tie the score at 5-5 and 6-6 before taking their first lead of the night at 7-6. They went on to break the serve of Celia Rodriguez and Judit Vives in the final game to win 8-6 and improve to 16-2 overall and 7-1 vs. the Southland.
Walker and Williams also are 7-1 against league teams as they helped the Wildcats finish the spring undefeated at home at 8-0.
Walker continued to cruise on the singles court, winning for the third-straight time at No. 2 following a victory over Vives, 6-3, 6-3. That win lifted her season and No. 2 marks to 12-6 and 6-1, but the clubhouse leader in wins with 13 is still junior Nada Marjanovic, who earned the team's second point after rolling past Kerry Galhos, 6-4, 6-2.
The Wildcats had to wait some time to win that fourth point and the dual as Reed went on to lose at No. 1, while the No. 3-5 matches all were pushed to a third set.
Hermsdorf and Williams each won their first sets at No. 3 and 4, but couldn't finish off their opposition in the second set. But at No. 5, freshman Lucile Pothier - with a little encouragement from former Wildcat Julia Mongin - came back from a set down to defeat Chelsea Horan in rather convincing fashion, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Pothier's win was her third straight and 12th of the spring, keeping her tied with Walker for second place.
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New Orleans 4, Southeastern Louisiana 1
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers women’s tennis team (13-9, 3-6) had to change venues, but earned a critical 4-1 victory over the Southeastern Lions (11-7, 3-6) on Wednesday in a match that started at the University Tennis Center, but moved indoors to the Hilton tennis courts. The Privateers were a game back of the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament entering play.
The day started with the Privateers flexing their collective muscle at the 2 and 3 spots in doubles. Anja Luethi and Anna Segarra Rius raced out to a 3-0 lead while Hafsa Laraibi and Yasmine Rashad followed suit at #3 doubles.
Luethi and Segarra dropped the next two games and had their lead trimmed to 3-2, but came back to break their opponents, Margaux Kaltenbacher and Dany Raygadas to go ahead by two games. Luethi and Segarra were able to coast from there to an 8-3 win.
Meanwhile, Laraibi and Rashad had little trouble polishing off an 8-3 win of their own. After not being able to break serve for the match, the Privateers’ third tandem raced out to a 40-0 lead in the deciding game and eventually finished the first point of the match in New Orleans’ favor.
The singles matches got underway, but the match had to be moved to an indoor venue after rain and lightning halted proceedings. The match shifted to the Hilton indoor tennis courts where Luethi picked up right where she left off, sweeping Margaux Kaltenbacher in the second set to take a straight set victory.
The third point was earned by Laraibi who jumped out quick in the second set and coasted to a 6-1, 6-1 victory. The clinching point was earned by Segarra who held serve for the game and match clinching point.
The Privateers have two matches left, both on the road. The next outing is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. against Incarnate Word.
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