CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's tennis team dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 2 seed UIW in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Courts.
With the loss, Southeastern ends its season with a 11-10 overall record. UIW (15-7) advances to face third-seeded McNeese in one of Saturday's semifinals at 10 a.m.
"They jumped on us fast in doubles and we just couldn't recover," Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes commented. "We got behind on five courts in singles play, but we battled hard to take three of those to a third set."
In doubles play, UIW looked like a team that didn't have to play a grueling three-plus hour match Thursday. The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead with 6-0 victories on courts 1 and 3.
UIW extended its lead to 3-0 and had SLU on the verge of defeat after straight-set wins on No. 3 and No. 4 in singles play. However, Southeastern made the league runner-up work, as the other four singles matches went to three sets.
On No. 5, Thursday's hero for Southeastern,
Flory Bierma cut the UIW advantage to 3-1 with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Lyric Bonilla. The Kapelle, The Netherlands native capped a career that saw her earn All-Southland Conference honors three times in doubles play with a win that moved her to 10-9 in singles play.
Also finishing up her Lion career Friday was five-time All-SLC selection
Putri Insani. The Jakarta, Indonesia product pushed Southland Conference Player of the Year Brandelyn Fulgenzi to the limit before ultimately falling, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in the clinching match.
"We played with so much heart this season and today was no different," Hayes commented. "I'm so proud of this group's willingness to fight to the last ball all seaosn and we're sorry it ended today."
UIW 4, Southeastern 1
Singles:
No. 1 Brandelyn Fulgenzi (UIW) def.
Putri Insani (SLU) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)
No. 2
Gabrielle Dekkers (SLU) vs. Estefania Gonzalez (UIW) 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 1-1, unfinished
No. 3 Gargi Pawar (UIW) def.
Carla Del Barrio (SLU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
No. 4 Amelie Montalvo (UIW) def.
Kate Oborina (SLU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5
Flory Bierma (SLU) def. Lyric Bonilla (UIW) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
No. 6
Alba Perez (SLU) vs. Nitika Girish (UIW) 4-6, 6-0, 4-3, unfinished
Doubles:
No. 1 Fulgenzi/Gonzalez (UIW) def. Bierma/Insani (SLU) 6-0
No. 2 Dekkers/Del Barrio (SLU) vs. Bonilla/Pawar (UIW) 2-4, unfinished
No. 3 Girish/Montalvo (UIW) def. Oborina/Perez (SLU) 6-0
2023 Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championships | April 20-23 | Thomas J. Henry Tennis Courts | Corpus Christi, Texas
Thursday, April 20 | First Round
Match 1 | No. 9 Nicholls 4, No. 8 Bryant 1
Match 2 | No. 7 Southeastern 4, No. 10 New Orleans 3
Friday, April 21 | Quarterfinals
Match 3 | No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4, Nicholls 0
Match 4 | No. 4 Northwestern State 4, No. 5 NJIT 0
Match 5 | No. 2 UIW 4, Southeastern 1
Match 6 | No. 3 McNeese 4, No. 6 Lamar 0
Saturday, April 22 | Semifinals
Match 7 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Northwestern State | 10 a.m.
Match 8 | UIW vs. McNeese | 10 a.m.
Sunday, April 23 | Finals
Match 9 | Semifinal winners | 10 a.m. | ESPN+
40 LOVE CLUB
All membership fees and donations to both the 40 Love Club and S Club (tennis) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern tennis program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
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