Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana Tech
Ladyjacks' Lead Slips Away in 4-3 Home Loss to Louisiana Tech
3/25/2018 6:51:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Cerdan, Ljubic and Kamal secure singles wins for SFA
Box Score
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin women's tennis team battled back from an early 2-0 deficit and captured a 3-2 lead over visiting Louisiana Tech with three-straight singles wins, but the Lady Techsters closed the match with three-set wins at first and third singles to send the Ladyjacks to a 4-3 loss Sunday afternoon at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
Armelle Cerdan began the Ladyjacks' comeback by posting a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Angela Lorenzo in the fourth singles flight before Kaja Ljubic posted a 6-4, 6-4 triumph against Andrea Perez-Lopez on the fifth line to tie matters at 2-2.
From there, Nida Kamal finished off Paulina Cota 6-1, 6-2 in number-six singles action to push the home squad ahead 3-2 before the Lady Techsters regained control.
Facing off against Karla De La Luz on the top singles line, sophomore Gabi Guilarte recovered from a 6-3 setback in the opening set to tie matters at one set apiece with a 6-2 victory in the second. Things were made doubly unfortunate for SFA, however, as De La Luz jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the deciding frame before Guilarte was forced to retire from the match which tied things at three. Guilarte suffered an ankle injury came in the opening frame but she attempted to play through the pain in sets two and three before retiring.
Much like Guilarte did on the top line, Darinka Tiboldi also went to three sets against Sonia Chen on line three. Tiboldi started her bout with a 6-3 win in the opening set before things went south. Regrettably, Chen bounced back with a pair of 6-1 victories in the final two sets to give the visiting Lady Techsters the match-clinching point.
Guilarte and Kamal were hanging with De La Luz and Perez-Lopez in the number-one singles flight, but Louisiana Tech's 6-0 win in second flight and 6-2 victory in third flight doubles forced a stoppage to that top line match with SFA down 5-4.
The Lady Techsters opened up their early 2-0 lead by using a 6-4, 6-1 win by Nadja Manjon over Siân Payne in number two singles.
Saturday morning in Abilene, Texas, the Ladyjacks return to Southland Conference play when they pay a visit to Abilene Christian. First serve has been set for 11:00 a.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
