Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana Tech
SFA Drops 6-1 Non-Conference Match at Louisiana Tech
3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Louisiana Tech 6, Stephen F. Austin 1
Records: Louisiana Tech | 11-8 • Stephen F. Austin | 7-9
Up next: Abilene Christian (14-4, 6-1 Southland) | Sunday, April 2 | Noon | Nacogdoches, Texas | Schlief Tennis Complex
RUSTON, La. - Three of the six singles matches between the Stephen F. Austin women’s tennis team and Louisiana Tech went to three sets, but the Ladyjacks collected just one win in those matches and fell 6-1 to the Lady Techsters at the Louisiana Tech Tennis Complex Tuesday afternoon.
Of the 15 singles sets played in the non-conference match, all but six of them were decided by four games or fewer in the Ladyjacks’ second loss in as many matches.
“We were right there in almost every match today, and just one more point here and there could have made this a totally different day for us,” said SFA head coach Jon McLaughlin.
Denise Maxl and Gabi Guilarte helped the Ladyjacks pull even in doubles action by winning the number-one tandem match by a 7-5 margin after the Liza Aginskaya/Kaja Ljubic team fell 6-0 in the third doubles match.
Unfortunately, Vanesa Pardo and Siân Payne fell by the same score to the Louisiana Tech duo of Sonia Chen and Jill van den Dungen in a loss that gave the doubles point to the home team.
Maxl suffered 6-3, 6-2 loss to Jazmin Britos in the number-one singles match and despite claiming a 6-3 win over Chen in the third one-on-one match, Guilarte dropped the next two sets 6-0, 6-1 and SFA fell into a 3-0 hole.
Darinka Tiboldi went toe-to-toe with Nadja Manjon in the second single match, but SFA’s freshman fell 7-6, 7-5 before the Ladyjacks put forth their only team point of the match.
Trailing 1-0 after the first set in her number-six singles battle, Ljubic broke up the Lady Techsters’ shutout bid by capturing her next two sets to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Jill van den Dungen. The win was the sophomore’s sixth in a row in singles action and upped her 2017 record to 8-4.
Payne forced a tiebreaker in her fifth-seeded singles match against Marta Sramkova before losing 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Aginskaya recovered from a 6-0 shutout in her first set against Alba Escalona Perny in the number-four singles match and forced a third set by collecting a 6-2 victory in the second set.
Aginskaya, however, fell just short in her comeback bid and lost the third set 7-6 (7-3).
On Sunday, the Ladyjacks play their penultimate home match of 2017 when they host Southland Conference rival Abilene Christian at noon on the courts of the Schlief Tennis Complex.
Louisiana Tech 6, Stephen F. Austin 1
3/29/2017 at Ruston, La.
Singles competition
1. Jazmin Britos (TECH) def. Maxl, Denise (SFA) 6-3, 6-2
2. Nadja Manjon (TECH) def. Tiboldi, Darinka (SFA) 7-6, 7-5
3. Sonia Chen (TECH) def. Guilarte, Gabi (SFA) 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
4. Alba Escalona Perny (TECH) def. Aginskaya, Liza (SFA) 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Marta Sramkova (TECH) def. Payne, Sian (SFA) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Ljubic, Kaja (SFA) def. Jill van den Dungen (TECH) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Maxl, Denise/Guilarte, Gabi (SFA) def. Jazmin Britos/Alba Escalona Perny (TECH) 7-5
2. Sonia Chen/Jill van den Dungen (TECH) def. Pardo, Vanesa/Payne, Sian (SFA) 7-5
3. Marta Sramkova/Nadja Manjon (TECH) def. Aginskaya, Liza/Ljubic, Kaja (SFA) 6-0
Match Notes
Stephen F. Austin 7-9
Louisiana Tech 11-8
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,3,2,6,5,4)
T-3:15 A-52
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
