New Orleans Upsets Stephen F. Austin 4-3 for Semifinal Berth
Southland Conference
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BEAUMONT, Texas – Seventh-seeded New Orleans upset No. 2 seed Stephen F. Austin 4-3 in the 2015 Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament quarterfinals Friday afternoon in Beaumont, Texas. In their first Southland tournament appearance, the Privateers earned their first match victory to advance into the semifinals.
Stephen F. Austin got out to a 1-0 lead after doubles play as Malena Gordo and Dhanielly Quevedo defeated Soledad Calderon and Marta Sans of New Orleans 8-5 at the top spot. To clinch the doubles point was all-conference doubles selections Valeria Terentyeva and Vivienne Kulicke earning a 8-6 win over the Privateers’ duo of Yasmine Rashad and Hafsa Laraibi at the third spot. At No. 2 doubles SFA’s Julia Lorca and Denise Maxl were tied at seven games all with UNO’s Segarra Rius and Anja Luethi.
The Ladyjacks increased their lead to 2-0 after freshman of the year Kulicke quickly dispatched Sans of UNO, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. The Privateers tied the match at 2-2 after straight-set wins by Luethi at No. 3 singles and Laraibi at the sixth spot.
The final three matches came down to third sets as the Privateer’s Rashad came back from dropping the first set, 6-4, to claim the second and third sets 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 singles. SFA’s all-conference No. 1 singles player Gordo earned a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Privateers’ Calderon. With the match score tied at 3-3, the final outcome came down to Southland Newcomer of the Year, Quevedo of SFA, and UNO’s Segarra. Segarra claimed the first set 6-3, but Quevedo took the second 7-5 before Segarra won the third 6-4 to clinch the match for New Orleans.
The Privateers (15-10) will now face No. 3 seed Northwestern State (14-8) tomorrow morning in the semifinals of the tournament, match time is slated for 11 a.m. CST at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. The Lady Demons earned a 4-0 sweep of sixth-seeded Central Arkansas in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. In the lone meeting earlier this spring, Northwestern State squeezed by New Orleans for a 4-3 win.
The Southland tournament continues with two more quarterfinal matches this afternoon. Women’s semifinals will take place tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. CST and the tournament championship will be played Sunday at 11 a.m. with the winner receiving the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA championship.
Admission is free to all matches of the 2015 Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament, for more information regarding results, records and more please visit
Southland.org.