Box Score

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana sophomore Audrey Chelini, sophomore Morgane Dadot, sophomore Annika Hanke and freshman Nina Schmied all won in both singles and doubles play, helping the Lady Lion tennis team pick up a key Southland Conference victory on Saturday and defeat Nicholls, 5-2, at Oak Knoll Country Club.

Southeastern improved to 5-7 overall and 2-3 in Southland Conference play. The Lady Lions swept doubles play and won four of six in singles action to drop Nicholls to 4-6 overall and 1-5 in league action.

“This was a great team effort for us today,” Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes commented. “We've had so many close losses that could've gone either way and I've continued to tell our girls that if we keep fighting good things will happen. It was an advantage for us to play at home and we're so thankful to Abrie du Plooy and Oak Knoll Country Club for allowing us to play here.”

Southeastern opened the match by taking a 1-0 lead in doubles play. At No. 3, Hanke and sophomore Mia Hagiu defeated the Nicholls tandem of Sanja Stanojcic and Melissa Harrison, 8-4. The Lady Lions clinched the doubles point at No. 1, as Chelini and freshman Camille Pilon improved to 2-0 as a team with a 9-7 win over Tatiana Denezhkina and Florina Nosca.

The Lady Lion pair of Dadot and Schmied completed the sweep with an 8-6 victory at No. 2 over Natalia Zamora and Somana Kalyanasundam. Southeastern is now 5-0 on the season when it wins the doubles point.

“We had some struggles in doubles play earlier this spring, but with our new pairings at the top two spots we've been playing better,” Hayes stated. “We knew coming in that this would we be a close match and getting the doubles point was huge for our confidence.”

Dadot gave the Lady Lions a 2-0 lead with a dominating performance at No. 3. The Reunion, France native won her sixth straight singles match, rolling past Kalyanasundam, 6-0, 6-0, in a near flawless performance. Now 10-1 in dual match play on the season, Dadot has already matched her singles win total from last spring.

“We play a different way in France, so it took some time to get used to the style of play here,” Dadot said of her improvement. “We're working as a team to get better each time out and as we continue to improve our confidence will grow.”

The Lady Lions made the score 3-0 at No. 6, as Hanke shook off a sluggish first set and rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Harrison. The Lauchheim, Germany product improved to 5-5 in singles play and earned her first league singles win.

“Annika showed a lot of fight today and her bouncing back from a set down was a real key to our victory,” Hayes said. “We're very pleased that we were able to play well against a good Nicholls team. We have a lot of respect for (Nicholls head coach and former Southeastern head coach) Jim Hunter and his players and we're fortunate to come away with a victory today.”

After Nicholls pulled within two at 3-1 with a straight set decision at No. 2, Schmied (4-8) clinched the match for Southeastern at No. 4. The Maria Anzbach, Austria native outlasted Denezhkina, 6-2, 6-4, to earn her first Southland singles win.

Chelini (7-5) gave Southeastern its final point of the day at No. 1. An All-Louisiana selection as a freshman, Chelini, a Bordeaux, France product, rebounded from a tough second set to outlast Nosca, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.

Southeastern will return to action on Friday, facing Purdue at 2 p.m. at Stone Creek Tennis Club in Covington.