Box Score

HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women's tennis team's amazing one-year worst-to-first turnaround was completed on Monday, as the Lions clinched the outright 2013 Southland Conference regular season championship with a 6-1 win over league foe Nicholls State at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
 
In front of a large crowd of fans and student-athletes from throughout Southeastern Athletics, the Lions (19-2, 8-1 Southland) secured their fourth Southland regular season title under head coach Jason Hayes. Southeastern will be the top seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, scheduled for April 26-28 in Beaumont, Texas with the tournament winner earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Nicholls State fell to 7-16 overall and 0-9 in league action.
 
Armed with five new players on the 2013 roster, the Lions rebounded from a 2012 season that saw them finish 1-10 in league play, missing the Southland Conference Tournament and ending the regular season 10^th in the league standings. Hayes, who previously guided the 2006, 2007 and 2008 teams to league regular season titles and saw his 2005, 2006 and 2007 teams win Southland Conference Tournament titles and earn NCAA Tournament appearances, says this year's team will always be special.
 
“We hold all of our Southland Conference championship teams in the highest regard, but I've never seen a team play with the fight that we have this season,” Hayes commented. “We lost a key player in (freshman) Sarah (Kriem) to injury two matches into our conference season and our players raised their level of play to cover for her loss. I'm extremely proud of how our players have represented our university and athletic department on and off the court. Considering where we finished a season ago, I could not be more pleased with our team's effort.”
 
Nicholls State only brought four players to Hammond to compete in the match, defaulting at No. 3 doubles, as well as No. 5 and No. 6 singles. In doubles play, Southeastern took a 1-0 lead when sophomore Adriana Castillo and freshman Renee Villarreal (14-3) defeated NSU's Eva Castiglioni and Emma Pitre.
 
With the default victories on the two courts at the bottom of the singles draw, Southeastern needed just one singles victory to clinch the match. That win came at No. 2, as freshman Reginka Nychytailova (14-7) overwhelmed Castiglioni in a 6-0, 6-1 victory.  
 
The next Lion point came on the No. 3 court, where freshman Renee Villarreal (19-0) remained unbeaten with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Isla Brock. Sophomore Morgane Charpenne closed out the scoring for Southeastern, defeating Pitre, 6-1, 6-2, to extend her singles win streak to four matches.
 
Southeastern will close out the 2013 regular season on Tuesday, hosting Alcorn State at 1 p.m. and Jackson State at 6 p.m. at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.