CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Seventh seed Southeastern and ninth seed Nicholls won opening round matches on Thursday morning to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Championships at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
 
Southeastern knocked off 10^th seed New Orleans 4-3, while Nicholls beat eighth seed Bryant 4-1.
 
(7) SOUTHEASTERN 4, (10) NEW ORLEANS 3
Southeastern won the doubles point with wins on both the first and second courts. New Orleans fought back to take the lead at 2-1 when Freshman of the Year Didi Bredberg Canizares won at No. 1 singles (6-2, 6-0) and Laurie Barendse won at No. 2 (6-2, 6-1).

SLU’s Alba Perez won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 6, and the teams split No. 3 and No. 4, making the three-set match at No. 5 crucial. Southeastern’s Flory Bierma lost the first set to Raluca Puscas, 6-4, then won the final two sets 7-5 and 6-4 to give the Lady Lions the win.
 
Southeastern advances to face No. 2 UIW at 2 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinal round.
 
(9) NICHOLLS 4, (8) BRYANT 1
Bryant made an early statement in its first Southland tournament by taking the doubles points with a 6-1 win at No. 2 by Caitlyn Munson and Olivia Rondini and a 6-3 win at No. 1 by Camila Baeza and Manuela Gomez Estrada.
 
The Colonels answered back by winning four singles points. Carla Bouygues took a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 5, Simona Maksimovic won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1, and Dareen Hassan won 7-6, 6-3 at No. 3.
 
Constanza Cruz clinched the match for Nicholls with a 6-1, 7-5 victory at No. 4. Nicholls takes on top seed A&M-Corpus Christi at 10 a.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.
 
UPDATED SCHEDULE | BRACKET | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
FIRST ROUND | Thursday
(9) Nicholls 4, (8) Bryant 1
(7) Southeastern 4, (10) New Orleans 3
 
QUARTERFINALS | Friday
(1) A&M-Corpus Christi vs. (9) Nicholls, 10 a.m.
(4) Northwestern State vs. (5) NJIT, 10 a.m.
(2) UIW vs. (7) Southeastern, 2 p.m.
(3) McNeese vs. (6) Lamar, 2 p.m.
 
SEMIFINALS | 10 a.m. Saturday
CHAMPIONSHIP | 10 a.m. Sunday, LIVE on ESPN+