Women's Tennis Falls Against Tulane 4-0

BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans women's tennis began the spring season against Tulane on Wednesday afternoon, falling to the host Green Wave 4-0 at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center.

In doubles play, Tulane (2-0) took all three decisions while winning the opening set in every singles bout. Three Privateers were poised to force a third set before the Green Wave clinched the match.

"We played against a good Tulane team today," head coach Burzis Kanga said. "I felt that we did not compete as well as we could have in doubles but in singles we looked better. I knew playing against Tulane was going to be a tough match but it was closer than the score shows. We got outplayed, but we were able to learn a lot from this contest and with two weeks before our next match we can work on those areas and continue to improve as the season goes on."

In doubles play, Tulane put themselves in position to take the point with a 6-0 victory over senior Yasmine Rashad and freshman Yurina Asai at the top flight. The Privateers fared better at the second and third positions, but the pairings of redshirt-junior Anja Luethi and sophomore Trang Dao as well as freshman Claudette Gilhespie and sophomore Brittany Johnson both lost by scores of 6-4.

Playing in her first collegiate singles match, Asai was put at the Privateers top slot and pitted against Tulane's Naz Karargoz, falling 6-1, 6-1. The Green Wave moved one point away from clinching the match after a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Johnson at the fourth position, before the match ended following a 6-4, 6-2 setback for Rashad against Isabelle Entenza at the sixth position. Dao, Johnson and Gilhespie's, playing on courts two, three and five, matches did not finish.

"It was nice to play against Tulane again," Burzis concluded. "Prior to today it had been a couple years since we last played each other. We are so close to one another hopefully we will get to play against them next season as well."

The Privateers enter a two-week hiatus from competition before kicking off a five-match homestand that spans the entire of month of February, starting on Friday, Feb. 3 against Alcorn State.