Final Results
NEW ORLEANS, La. – In a tightly-contested Southland Conference women's tennis match that featured five three-set singles matches, New Orleans edged Southeastern Louisiana, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the University Tennis Center.
With its second straight 4-3 league loss, SLU fell to 3-6 overall and 0-3 in Southland Conference play. UNO ran its record to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in league action.
"I was very pleased how we played today," Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes said. "We had several tight matches that just didn't go our way, but our attitude and effort were where they needed to be."
The tone was set with a competitive doubles point. On the No. 1 court, SLU juniors
Dalina Dahlmans and
Fleur Holtkamp (6-3, 2-1 Southland) handled the Privateer pairing of Claudette Gilhespie and Anja Luethi, 6-1. After UNO picked up a 6-3 victory on the No. 3 court, the point was decided on the No. 2 court.
On No. 2, Trang Dao and Yasmine Rashad defeated the Lion duo of juniors
Dany Raygadas and
Madina Vorotnikova (1-6, 0-2 Southland), 7-6 (7-3) to give UNO a 1-0 lead.
Raygadas (3-6, 1-2 Southland) quickly evened the match on the No. 2 court, defeating Luethi, 6-2, 6-2. Southeastern took the lead with a win on court 5, as junior
Lucia Bustamante (1-7, 1-2 Southland) picked up her first singles victory of the spring, rallying past Brittany Johnson, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
UNO bounced back to even the match on No. 1, as Dao outlasted Holtkamp (4-5, 1-2 Southland), 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 6-2. The Privateers took the lead for good on the No. 4 court, as Gilhespie bounced back from a set down to defeat Dahlmans (4-5, 2-1 Southland), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
New Orleans closed out the victory on court 6. Like Gilhespie, Rashad had to rally from a set down to defeat SLU junior
Natalie Duran (3-6, 1-2 Southland), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. In the final match of the day, Southeastern junior
Madina Vorotnikova (3-5, 1-2 Southland) handed Anna Segarra Rius a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory on No. 3.
Southeastern will now return home for the first time in more than a month. The Lions will host Northwestern State on Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m. at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
