Stephen F. Austin
Tyler Junior College
SFA Suffers Narrow 4-3 Loss to UTSA, Also Drops Exhibition Bout against TJC
1/28/2018 6:17:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Tiboldi and Payne secure first singles wins of 2018
Tyler Junior College 5, Stephen F. Austin 2 (exhibition) | Box Score
Records: TJC | 0-0 • Stephen F. Austin | 0-1
UTSA 4, Stephen F. Austin 3 | Box Score
Records: UTSA | 1-0 • Stephen F. Austin | 0-2
Up next: at Texas A&M (4-0) | Saturday, Feb. 3 | 4:00 p.m.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - In its first home action of the 2018 season, the Stephen F. Austin women's tennis team suffered a narrow 4-3 setback to UTSA Sunday afternoon at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
Earlier in the day, SFA dropped an exhibition bout to the top-ranked junior college women's tennis team in the nation, Tyler Junior College. The Ladyjacks fell 5-2 in that one but were able to recover and get out to a fast start against the Roadrunners.
"TJC will likely be contending for a junior college national championship later this spring and have numerous players on its roster who will be able to play at a high level elsewhere in the future," said SFA head coach Jon McLaughlin.
"Even though it goes down as an exhibition match, it was still a good test leading up to the real thing later in the afternoon," McLaughlin continued. "Against UTSA, we did everything right in doubles play but faded down the stretch and went away from the things we did well as the match wore on. We feel like we let one slip away today."
MATCH ONE | Tyler Junior College 5, Stephen F. Austin 2
Armelle Cerdan recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over Afroditi Tzanopoulou in the number five singles flight and Vera Carvalho bested Mekeila Erspamer 6-0, 3-6, 2-3 in the number six bout after Erspamer retired in the third set.
The wins by Carvalho and Cerdan were the only two SFA received in the exhibition bout. The Apaches won all three doubles matches and also picked up two-set wins in the first, second and third singles flights.
Kaja Ljubic found herself on the wrong end of a 6-2, 7-6 (5) score against Oceane Garibal in the fourth singles flight.
MATCH TWO | UTSA 4, Stephen F. Austin 3
All of the energy was in the Ladyjacks' corner early as the doubles teams of Darinka Tiboldi/Nida Kamal and Siân Payne/Gabi Guilarte made short work of their UTSA counterparts by identical 6-2 scores in the first and second tandem flights.
The early lead by the host institution was short lived, however, after Kaja Ljubic dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Sonia Madronal in the number six singles bout to tie things up at one. Minutes later, UTSA took the lead for good when Charleen Tiwari bested Kamal 6-1, 6-3 in the number four slot
Tiboldi pulled the Ladyjacks even at 2-2 after besting Ivana Ilic 6-2, 6-2 in the number-two singles match but Guilarte fell 6-4, 6-4 against Ibrahimovic in the top seeded singles flight. Payne's 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sofia Boers at the number three singles flight made matters 3-3, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.
Playing in the number five singles flight, Armelle Cerdan took the first set against Laura Cabrera by a 6-4 tally only to see UTSA's sophomore come back to win the the flight and clinch the match for the Roadrunners by emerging as the victor in sets two and three by scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
Saturday afternoon, SFA will make a trip south to College Station, Texas, in order to do battle with Texas A&M. The Ladyjacks and Aggies are scheduled to get underway at 4:00 p.m.
-SFA-
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Players Mentioned
