HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's tennis team dropped a tightly-contested 5-2 decision to Southland Conference foe SFA Saturday afternoon at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
SLU (9-5, 2-2 SLC) and SFA (5-6, 4-1 SLC) battled for three-plus hours in a grueling contest. The Ladyjacks won on the bottom two doubles courts, then won four of six singles matches – including all three that were decided in three sets.
"We had a great effort today against a very good SFA team," Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes commented. "Ultimately, it came down to them being a little better and more physical than us in doubles and the last three singles matches."
In doubles play, the SLU pair of
Bente Bierma and
Paige Duncan (6-4, 2-2 SLC) earned a 6-4 victory over Felicia Back and Sonja Rooth on the No. 1 court after SFA earned a win on court 3. On No. 2, the SFA pair of Alkmini Giannakogiorgou and Ksenia Mamontova rallied past Lions
Aitana Darder and
Anicka Panchartek, 7-5, to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
SFA quickly stretched the lead to 2-0 with a straight-set win on No. 2. However, the Lions would even up the match. On court 5, Duncan (8-3, 3-1 SLC) earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ana Paula Chavez.
Adriana Tirado (10-3, 3-1 SLC) knotted the match at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Avery Kinsey on No. 6.
The last three matches stretched to three sets with the Ladyjacks winning all three. On court 3, Mamontova held off Darder (3-4, 2-2 SLC) for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win to give SFA a 3-2 lead.
Minutes later, Antonella Taco clinched the match for the Ladyjacks with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over
Mariam Tetradze (7-3, 0-3 SLC) on No. 4. On court 1, Back provided the final margin with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 win over Pantachakorn Suanarsa (5-7, 0-4 SLC).
Southeastern will return to action Monday, hosting Northwestern State for an 11 a.m. match at the Southeastern Tennis Complex. The first 150 SLU students in attendance will receive a free t-shirt courtesy of Southeastern Athletics. Live stats will be accessible via the tennis schedule page at
www.LionSports.net.
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
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