Ladyjacks Hand Northwestern State First Southland Loss with 4-3 Win in Home Finale

Tuesday, April 9

Nacogdoches, Texas

3:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Northwestern State

Photo by: SFA Athletics

Ladyjacks Hand Northwestern State First Southland Loss with 4-3 Win in Home Finale

4/9/2019 7:51:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

SFA comes back from 3-1 deficit, Cerdan clinches win

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - In its final home match of the 2019 campaign, all the SFA tennis team did was spring upset of the season in Southland Conference action by handing league-leading Northwestern State its first Southland setback of the season via a 4-3 score at the Schlief Tennis Complex Wednesday afternoon.

Trailing 3-1 and with their backs against the wall, the Ladyjacks won their final three singles matches to notch the thrilling come-from-behind victory. Armelle Cerdan provided the pivotal singles win, defeating the Lady Demons' Patrycka Polanska 6-4, 6-4 on the number-three singles line.

DOUBLES
• SFA paved the way to its upset win by coming out strong in doubles play. Cerdan and Darinka Tiboldi got things going with a strong 6-3 victory over Antonia Blatter and Ela Iwaniuk on the number-two line.
• Following suit on the top line, Gabi Guilarte and Kaja Ljubic completed SFA's doubles point victory by scoring a 6-4 triumph over Patrycja Polanska and Rhea Verma.

SINGLES
• Thing went back-and-forth in singles action, but at the end of the day Cerdan's match-clinching victory on the third line sewed up the Ladyjacks' upset.
• Before SFA won the match, the Lady Demons tied things up when Iwaniuk defeated Ljubic 6-1, 6-1 on the fourth line.
• The Lady Demons' lead increased to 2-1 following Judit Castillo Gargallo's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kyndall Misak on line six. Following that, the visitors found themselves just one point away from victory when Verma scored a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Tiboldi.
• After that, SFA started blazing a comeback trail. Things started with Nida Kamal who claimed a 6-3, 6-2 win against Antonia Blattner in the number-five slot.
• With the Lady Demons' lead cut to 3-2, Guilarte was forced to play three sets against Skyba in the top line. SFA's top-flight singles player jumped out to a quick lead courtesy of a 6-2 win in set one. Skyba forced a third set by scoring a 6-3 win in the middle frame but Guilarte closed out the singles win with a 6-4 win in set three.
• That set the table for Cerdan's match-clinching victory over Polanska.

COMING UP NEXT
• With its home schedule in the books, the Ladyjacks hit the road for their final two regular season matches of the season in the hopes of clinching a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. SFA's two-match weekend in Louisiana starts Friday afternoon in Lake Charles, La., when the Ladyjacks battle McNeese.
• Sunday's regular season finale pits the Ladyjacks against Southeastern Louisiana at noon in Hammond, La. Southeastern Louisiana currently sits in eighth place in the league standings with a half-game lead over SFA. The top eight teams in the Southland standings make the cut for the Southland Conference Tournament.

-SFA-