Cerdan and Ljubic Compete at River Oaks Country Club Collegiate Invite
11/5/2017 8:48:00 PM | Women's Tennis
SFA pair faces foes from Rice, North Texas and Houston in final fall event of 2017
HOUSTON - Stephen F. Austin women's tennis players Armelle Cerdan and Kaja Ljubic took part in the River Oaks Country Club Collegiate Invitational over the weekend in the final fall action of the season for the Ladyjacks.
Cerdan and Ljubic were called on to fill in a pair of open spots on the University of Texas roster after a pair of Longhorns were unable to compete at the event.
Friday's doubles opener saw the SFA squad slotted in the third flight where they were on the wrong end of a 8-4 decision against Houston's Dena Nicolau and Laura Bernardos. From there, the pair matched up against North Texas in singles play.
Placed in the number six singles flight, Cerdan was defeated 6-4, 6-1 by the Mean Green's Ivana Babic. Ljubic came out strong in the number four singles flight against UNT's Haruka Sasaki and won set one 7-6 (7-2). Unfortunately, Sasaki regrouped and won the next pair of sets 6-1, 6-1 to take the match.
In day two of the invitational on Saturday, the pair faced off against the North Texas tandem of Sille Tranberg and Alex Heczey. Cerdan and Ljubic dropped an 8-3 decision to the Mean Green pair before moving on to singles action against players from Rice.
Ljubic stepped into the number two singles slot and was dealt a 6-1, 6-1 loss by the Owls' Priya Niezgoda. Cerdan picked up a pair of games during the second set of her number-three flight battle with Rice's Michaela Haet but fell 6-1, 6-2.
SFA's pair continued play throughout the final day of the invitation on Sunday, too, beginning the last day with an 8-6 setback to Rice's number-three flight doubles team of Savannah Durkin and Sofie Moenster.
Much like she did on the first day of competition, Ljubic won her first singles set of the day Sunday, posting a 7-6 (7-3) victory over Houston's Ana Glumac before Glumac responded with scores of 6-3 and 7-5 in the second and third sets to take the match.
Cerdan posted her first set win of the weekend on Sunday as well, opening her number-five singles match with a 6-3 win over Bernardos. Again, however, the early lead did not last as Bernardos posted scored of 6-0 and 6-4 in the second and third sets to earn the win.
With its fall competition season in the books, SFA readies for its regular season opener on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. The Ladyjacks will take on Wichita State in Dallas, Texas, at 9:00 a.m.
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