NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans women's tennis team (6-1, 2-0 Southland) will continue their opening conference stretch at home on Friday against the Incarnate Word Cardinals (2-7, 0-0). The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at the University Tennis Center.
The Privateers are coming off a 2-0 opening weekend that concluded last Sunday. UNO narrowly edged Lamar on Saturday by a 4-3 score as the Privateers four through six players in the rotation all notched singles wins. The top of the rotation was unblemished in Sunday's 5-2 victory over Sam Houston State.
Trang Dao was the only Privateer to remain unblemished on the weekend. Dao and her doubles partner,
Anja Luethi went 2-0 at #1 doubles. In singles, Dao won both of her matches in straight sets against Lamar's Talissa Merchiers and Sam Houston State's Khee Yen Wee. Dao is 5-1 in singles on the season heading into the weekend.
"T.K. means a lot to us as far as the depth she adds and when she's on, she is a tough player to beat," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "She has such versatility in her game and she's a smart player. Watch out for her when everything falls into place. On any given day, she can play with the best.
With eight players, it's allowed the flexibility to implement different lineups in the early part of the season.
Anna Segarra Rius,
Soledad Calderon Arroyo, and
Anja Luethi have interchanged throughout the top three spots in the rotation this season.
"The depth is the key to our success," said Kanga. "It's not just one or two players, it's all eight who make this team. They have a great understanding of what they need to do in order to be successful. We'll switch up the rotation for Friday. As we move forward this weekend is big for us."
Friday will mark just the second road match for Incarnate Word this season. The Cardinals' last outing was a 5-2 loss to Air Force last Sunday. Rachel Sadiq and Sarah Savedra picked up the point for UIW at #1 and #4 singles respectively.
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