Women's Tennis: April 3 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
Stephen F. Austin 5, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Northwestern State 4, New Orleans 3
Nicholls 4, Abilene Christian 3
Lamar 6, UIW 1
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6, Sam Houston State 0
Stephen F. Austin 5, Southeastern Louisiana 2
HAMMOND, La. – Stephen F. Austin remained undefeated in Southland Conference play, defeating host Southeastern Louisiana 5-2 at the SLU Tennis Complex Friday afternoon. The Ladyjacks improved to 11-5 on the season and 5-0 in SLC action.
SFA opened up the day on a positive note, taking the first two doubles sets to notch the early 1-0 lead. Malena Gordo and Dhanielly Quevedo earned an 8-5 decision in the No. 1 doubles, followed by an 8-3 victory in the No. 3 doubles by Vivienne Kulicke and Valeria Terentyeva, forcing the No. 2 doubles match featuring Denise Maxl and Julia Lorca to remain unfinished.
Moving to the singles competition, No. 3 Dhanielly Quevedo took down Margaux Kaltenbacher 6-2, 6-2, followed by a 6-0, 6-3 win by No. 4 Vivienne Kulicke. No. 6 Julia Lorca then clinched the match for the Ladyjacks, earning a 6-3, 6-0 victory and giving SFA the 4-0 lead.
SFA suffered defeats at both the No. 1 and No. 2 positions as Malena Gordo dropped a 1-6, 6-7 (3-7) decision to Renee Villareal and Denise Maxl lost a grueling 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 8-10 match to Lucia Bustamante. No. 5 Valeria Terentyeva closed out the competition on a high note for SFA, earning a 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 victory over Madina Vorotnikova.
The victory keeps SFA atop the Southland Conference standings with a handful of teams right on its heels. Nicholls (7-1), McNeese State (6-1) and Northwestern State (5-1) are all one game back in the loss column as the quartet get set to make the stretch run toward the SLC tournament.
SFA closes out its three-match Louisiana road trip Saturday afternoon, heading across Lake Pontchartrain to face SLC foe New Orleans. The match against the Privateers is set to get underway at 11 a.m.
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Northwestern State 4, New Orleans 3
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Aliona Ladutska pulled out a 6-4 third-set victory Friday afternoon that ended the match and handed visiting Southland Conference women's tennis champion Northwestern State a tense 4-3 triumph at New Orleans.
With the outcome hanging in the balance, Ladutska prevailed in the No. 3 singles match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 over Marta Sans, giving the Lady Demons their eighth victory in nine outings.
NSU (9-7 overall, 5-1 in the Southland) will visit Southeastern Louisiana (10-5, 3-4) Saturday at 11 a.m. to complete the road trip. UNO dipped to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in Southland play.
Friday's win kept the Lady Demons alive in their bid to defend their Southland championship. The only Southland unbeaten, Stephen F. Austin, won 5-2 at SLU Friday and will visit UNO Saturday.
NSU's triumph was powered by the top of the lineup in doubles and singles on a windy day next to Lake Ponchatrain.
"I am very proud of the girls, the way they fought and played. UNO played very well and we had to earn our win. The conditions were tough but the girls played very smart starting in doubles," said first-year NSU coach Olga Bazhanova.
The nation's No. 60-ranked doubles team, NSU's Tatiana Larina and Natalya Krutova, looked the part in an 8-1 triumph to open the match. The Lady Demons quickly captured the doubles point with an 8-2 victory at No. 2 by Polina Ivanova and Kateryna Piatakova.
Krutova made it 2-0 NSU with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Anja Leuthi at No. 2 singles, but UNO's Harsa Laraibi quickly posted a 6-2, 6-1 decision over Piatakova at No. 6. Larina moved NSU's lead to 3-1 minutes later by closing out Soledad Calderon 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 1 match.
"Tatiana and Natalya got the ball rolling by playing very well in the top two spots," said Bazhanova. "Aliona did a great job under pressure in the third set as the final match on, to clinch the victory for the team."
UNO rallied to sweep the Nos. 4-5 matches and tie the overall score. Anna Segarra Rius prevailed 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 over Ivanova and Yasmine Rashad won by the same score over NSU's Barbora Kollarova to tie the match.
But Ladutska responded to the challenge and handed NSU the overall win.
Krutova moved to 6-0 in league play and 11-4 overall in singles at No. 2. She and Larina are perfect in doubles in Southland competition and 11-1 overall. Ivanova fell in singles for the first time in conference play.
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Nicholls 4, Abilene Christian 3
THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women’s tennis team came up short in doubles play for the first time in conference play this season, but the singles lineup was able to pick up the slack as the Colonels squeaked by Abilene Christian for a 4-3 victory on Friday afternoon at the Colonel Tennis Complex.
The Colonels continue to have one of the best seasons in program history, improving to 15-4 on the year and 7-1 in Southland play. With the loss, Abilene Christian dropped to 7-4 and 3-4.
Nicholls found itself in unfamiliar territory heading into singles play, trailing 1-0 for the first time. Stephanie Barnett and Klara Skopac were defeated handedly on the No. 1 court, 8-2, while Marie Aubert and Milou Pietersz fell 8-4 at No. 2.
In singles, the Colonels quickly tied the match as Barnett won the first set over Kaysie Hermsdorf, 6-1, before outlasting her in a 7-6 tiebreaker. At No. 3, Aubert also won in straight sets with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Lucile Pothier, and Skopac battled Brittney Reed at No. 2 for a 7-6, 7-5 win.
For the bottom half of the lineup, ACU notched a pair of victories at No. 4 and 5 to even up the match. Erin Walker defeated Pietersz, 6-3, 7-6, at No. 4 while Kateryna Nakonechna saw her five-match winning streak come to an end with a close 7-6, 7-5 loss to Nada Marjanovic. However, Isla Brock continued to be nearly unbeatable as she defeated Whitney Williams, 6-4, in both sets to give Nicholls the win. Since the start of her sophomore season, Brock holds a remarkable 29-3 record in singles.
The Colonels will have the week off before hitting the road for a pair of huge conference matches next weekend. Nicholls will take on Northwestern State, which is 5-1 in conference, on Saturday, April 11, before taking on undefeated Stephen F. Austin on Sunday.
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Lamar 6, UIW 1
BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar women’s tennis team was dominant on Friday when the Lady Cardinals claimed five singles matches, all in straight sets, and the doubles point to grab a 6-1 lead over Incarnate Word in Southland Conference action at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
Courts one and two claimed the doubles point for Lamar (8-8, 2-4 Southland Conference), and gave it a 1-0 early advantage in its fifth-straight win.
Incarnate Word fell to 2-16 overall and 0-7 in league play.
Carolina Maso and Katya Lapayeva downed Sarah Savedra and Rachel Sadiq 8-3 on No. 1 doubles, and Andrea Ivanovic and Anna Spengler took care of Matea Zemunik and Antea Dedic 8-5 from position two. Maso and Lapayeva improved their team record to 5-4 and Spengler and Ivanovic bettered their mark to 5-4.
Hanna Elfving and Stephanie Marchena were tied with Malisa Vatanadilok and Maria Batchinsky 6-6 when the match was called due to the clinched point.
Lapayeva improved her singles mark to 6-10 this season with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Sadiq. The sophomore is 4-9 from line one in 2015. Ivanovic picked up a win over Savedra, 6-1, 6-2, on line three and improved her season mark to
7-9
Elfving improved to 8-5 on the season with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Antea Dedic on court five. The sophomore is 6-4 from No. 5. Stephanie Marchena pushed her singles win streak to six with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Batchinsky on line six. She is 8-3 overall and 6-3 from the sixth position.
UIW’s lone win was on line two, and used an early set one lead. Zemunik took a tight 7-6 set one from Spenger, and finished the match with a 6-2 set two.
Lamar plays again on Saturday when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1o’clock from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6, Sam Houston State 0
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's tennis team earned its fourth Southland Conference victory of the season today with a 6-0 win over Sam Houston State at the McAdams Tennis Center. The Islanders (10-7, 4-3 SLC) and Bearkats (1-12, 0-6 SLC) started the day in singles play after a rain delay, and the Islanders didn't lose a set.
"I thought our girls showed a lot of focus and made the choice to be extremely mentally tough today," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "I also liked the choice they made to show great spirit and courage toward each other. This is always a tough place to play for us and we had really great battles here over the years.
"The hot and windy part of the season is here now and fitness means more than anything. Our girls earned the right to be confident because of the choices they made to be discipline and their commitment to be extremely physically fit. I'm very excited about the next six weeks with these high-character girls."
Junior Maider Martin helped the Islanders off to a strong start with a straight-set win at No. 4 singles. Martin downed Bailey VanDyke, 6-1, 6-4 to earn her sixth straight match for an impressive 13-3 dual-match record, including a 6-1 Southland mark.
The Islanders then earned their second point of the day after sophomore Judit Vives earned a 6-1, 6-3 win over Olivia Battye for her first victory at No. 2 singles. Junior Celia Rodriguez then padded the Islanders lead to 3-0 after she topped Mila Milanovic, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles for her fifth consecutive win. This season, Rodriguez has been remarkable at No. 3 singles, posting a 9-0 mark, and a 5-1 mark in Southland play.
A&M - Corpus Christi then clinched the match at No. 5 singles, after senior Chelsea Horan defeated Karen Martinez 6-2, 7-5. The Islanders kept the momentum going as Jelena Dzinic garnered her first win at No. 1 singles. The freshman secured a 6-4, 6-3 straight-set win over Fabienne Gettwart to give the Islanders a 5-0 lead.
In the final singles match of the day, sophomore Kerry Galhos breezed past Maddie Mortimore, 6-1, 6-3, for her first win in No. 6 singles.
The Islanders will now head to Beaumont, Texas to face Lamar tomorrow at 1 p.m.
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