Stephen F. Austin
Southeastern Louisiana
SFA Takes Final Berth In SLC Tournament
4/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 20, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Ladyjack tennis team had to pick up a win on Monday to get a berth into the Southland Conference Tournament and did just that, getting a 4-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana at the Schlief Tennis Complex to punch their ticket to Corpus Christi next week.
SFA (6-15, 4-7 SLC) and Southeastern Louisiana (9-12, 3-7 SLC) both were facing a do-or-die situation, each needing wins to keep their season alive but it was the Ladyjacks that got it done when it had to.
The Lady Lions were playing shorthanded with only five available players and SFA was able to take advantage of it, starting in doubles play. With the Lady Lions only fielding two doubles teams, all SFA had to do was take a single doubles match to secure the point and it was the tandem of Roxana Enica and Alina Shazkho that picked up their eighth league win in No. 1 doubles, 8-2, over Audrey Chelini and Iva Velkovska to take an early and important 1-0 lead after doubles play.
With the doubles point already tallied, SFA only needed a pair of wins in singles play to close out the match and got those points in the No. 2 and No. 5 slots. Despite Velkovska knocking off Shazkho in No. 1 singles (6-4, 6-2), Enica delivered a point with a straight set win over Chelini (7-5, 6-0) in No. 2 singles.
The final point came from Tatiana Smolnikova, disposing of Annika Hanke in straight sets as well (6-1, 7-5)and also put a halt to all other in-progress matches with the victory already in hand for SFA.
The Ladyjacks will have no easy task in the first round of the tournament as they draw the top-seeded, and undefeated UTA Lady Mavs on Friday at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi. The match is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
-SFA-
