THIBODAUX, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's tennis team advanced in the Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championships with a 4-0 first-round victory over New Orleans Tuesday evening at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex.
SLU (14-8) won the doubles point, then earned three straight-set singles victories to eliminate the No. 10 seed Privateers (5-12). The seventh-seeded Lions will face No. 2 seed SFA (14-6) in Wednesday's quarterfinal round at 2 p.m.
Southeastern opened up by taking an early 1-0 lead in doubles, improving to 10-0 this season when it takes the doubles point.
Bente Bierma and
Panatchakorn Suanarsa (10-10) handled UNO's Kate Kalistratova and Ana Kouchnareva, 6-1, on No. 1 to give the Lions a strong start.
However, UNO was able to even things with a 6-3 victory on No. 2. On court 3, the SLU duo of
Taisia Bolsova and
Claudia Di Leonardo (5-4) rallied past Iris Danne and Ananya Dhankhar, 7-6 (7-5) to send the Lions into singles play with the early advantage.
"Doubles was really the key for us," Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes said. "The comeback on No. 3 was a huge momentum boost."
In singles play, Bolsova (11-9) gave the Lions a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Danne on court 6. Bierma (7-12) followed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory on No. 5 over Dhankhar to put SLU on the verge of victory.
Leana Gomez (12-9) clinched the win on the top singles court for the Lions. The sophomore was too much for Kouchnareva in a 6-2, 6-2 victory that moved Southeastern forward in the bracket.
"We've had different people step up throughout the season for us," Hayes commented. "Today it was Leana, Bente and Taisia's day in singles, but it's been different players each match all spring. Individuals win points, but teams win matches."
Wednesday will bring a huge challenge for SLU in the form of the Lumberjacks, who were one of three teams to share the SLC regular season championship. SFA beat Southeastern, 7-0, back on April 12 in Nacogdoches, Texas.
"We lost, 7-0, the first time we played, but were competitive in singles," Hayes said. "The key for us is to come out early and match their intensity in doubles."
Live scoring for Wednesday's match will be available at
www.Southland.org.
2025 Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championships | April 22-25 | Thibodaux, La.
Tuesday, April 22 – First Round
Match 1 – No. 8 UIW 4, Lamar 2
Match 2 – No. 6 McNeese vs. No. 11 Nicholls | 6:15 p.m.
Match 3 – No. 7 Southeastern 4, No. 10 New Orleans 0
Singles:
No. 1
Leana Gomez (SLU) def. Ana Kouchnareva (UNO) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2
Claudia Di Leonardo (SLU) vs. Kate Kalistratova (UNO) 2-6, 5-2, unfinished
No. 3
Panatchakorn Suanarsa (SLU) vs. Fleur Sprengers (UNO) 5-7, 1-2, unfinished
No. 4
Aitana Darder (SLU) vs. Nouray Khaled (UNO) 7-5, 1-3, unfinished
No. 5
Bente Bierma (SLU) def. Ananya Dhankhar (UNO) 6-3, 6-2
No. 6
Taisia Bolsova (SLU) def. Iris Danne (UNO) 6-0, 6-2
Doubles:
No. 1 Bierma/Suanarsa (SLU) def. Kalistratova/Kouchnareva (UNO) 6-1
No. 2 Khaled/Sprengers (UNO) def. Darder/Gomez (SLU) 6-3
No. 3 Bolsova/Di Leonardo (SLU) def. Danne/Dhankhar (UNO) 7-6 (7-5)
Wednesday, April 23 - Quarterfinals
Match 4 – No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. UIW | 10 a.m.
Match 5 – No. 4 NJIT vs. No. 5 UTRGV | 10 a.m.
Match 6 – No. 2 SFA vs. Southeastern | 2 p.m.
Match 7 – No. 3 Northwestern State vs. Match 2 winner | 2 p.m.
Thursday, April 24 - Semifinals
Match 8 – Match 4 winner vs. Match 5 winner | 6 p.m.
Match 9 – Match 6 winner vs. Match 7 winner | 6 p.m.
Friday, April 25 – Finals
Match 10 – Match 8 winner vs. Match 9 winner | 5 p.m.
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.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Tennis, follow @LionUpTennis on X and Instagram and like /lionupathletics on Facebook.
