SAN ANTONIO – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's tennis team earned a 4-3 victory over UIW in the Southland Conference opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at the Mabry Tennis Center.
Southeastern (8-2, 1-0 SLC) bounced back from dropping the doubles point, winning the four singles matches necessary to get past the host Cardinals (1-7, 0-1 SLC).
"UIW came out and dominated the doubles, but we had a great strategy heading into singles and executed it well," Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes commented. "Our whole team is either sick or just recovering from being ill, so the fight we showed on the road is exactly what we needed."
In doubles play, the SLU team of
Adriana Tirado and
Mariam Tetradze (6-3) earned a 7-6 victory on court 3 over the UIW tandem of McKenzy Byfield and Alexandra Paule Jacqueline Mille. However, the Cardinals countered with wins on courts 1 and 2 to take a 1-0 lead.
Southeastern answered with straight-set wins by
Bente Bierma (3-2) and Tirado (8-1) on courts 2 and 6 to take a 2-1 lead. The hosts countered with straight-set victories on courts 1 and 3 to put the Lions on the verge of defeat.
Paige Duncan (6-1) tied it up with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Mille on court 5. The match was decided on No. 4, where
Aitana Darder (2-1) outlasted UIW's Luciana Paez Hernandez for a match-clinging 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
Southeastern will return to action Monday with an 11 a.m. match at Southland Conference foe Lamar in Beaumont, Texas.
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.
