Box Score
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana women's tennis team maintained its lead in the Southland Conference standings with a 5-2 league road victory over defending Southland champion Stephen F. Austin Friday afternoon at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
The Lions (16-2, 6-1 Southland) rallied after dropping the doubles point and won five of six singles matches. Stephen F. Austin dropped to 8-9 overall and 3-2 in league action.
“This was a battle today and I was very pleased with how we fought back against a very good SFA team,” Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes said. “We are playing with a lot of confidence right now, but we'll have another tough match tomorrow at Northwestern State.”
Southeastern had its chances to win the doubles point, but SFA was able to edge the Lions in the deciding match. Southeastern gained an early advantage in doubles play when freshman
Renee Villarreal and sophomore
Adriana Castillo ran their team-best doubles mark to 12-2 with an 8-3 win over Laura Servise and Margot de Haan at No. 2.
After the Ladyjacks evened the doubles ledger up with a win at No. 1, the point was decided on the No. 3 court. The SFA pairing of Kateryna Bugayenko and Valeria Terentyeva fought off two match points in a 9-8 (7-5) win over the Lion pair of senior
Isabel Brito and freshman
Reginka Nychytailova (3-2).
Southeastern would even the match in singles play on the No. 6 court. Brito (13-3) picked up a straight-set victory over Servise to knot the score at 1-1.
SFA would regain the lead with a straight set win on the No. 1 court, but junior
Valya Rusakova (13-5) won her fifth straight singles match, defeating Bugayenko, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Southeastern would take the lead for good at No. 2, as Nychytailova (12-6) outlasted Julia Lorca, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. The Lions would then clinch the match at No. 5, where Terentyeva had to retire in the third set against Southeastern sophomore
Morgane Charpenne (3-2).
The final point came from Southeastern's most reliable singles player in 2013. Villarreal (16-0) remained undefeated with a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Margot de Haan.
Southeastern will close out its regular season road schedule on Saturday, facing Northwestern State at 1 p.m. in Natchitoches.
