Women's Tennis Hosts Nicholls In Southland Conference Opener On Friday

NEW ORLEANS – After playing four matches over the previous two weeks, the University of New Orleans women's tennis season begins their Southland Conference schedule on Friday, Feb. 17 when they host Nicholls at 10 a.m.

Since joining the Southland Conference, Nicholls (2-1) holds a 3-1 lead in the season series over New Orleans (3-2), with the Privateers snapping a three-match skid against the Colonels last season with a 6-1 triumph. In the win, Anja Luethi, Trang Dao and Yasmine Rashad all claimed victories in singles and doubles play while Anna Segarra Rius prevailed at UNO's top singles position.

"We are looking forward to this match with Nicholls," head coach Burzis Kanga said. "We are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Nicholls is a good team and it should be a competitive match, but I think playing on our courts should give us the advantage we need to start league play 1-0."

The Privateers enter match fresh off an undefeated week, winning 7-0 against Loyola University of New Orleans and 4-0 against Southern University. Freshman Claudette Gilhespie leads the team with a perfect 4-0 record in singles play, the second-most wins by an undefeated singles player in the Southland Conference, while the duo of Luethi, who received votes last week for Southland Conference Player of the week, and Segarra are 2-0 at the Privateers top doubles position.

Nicholls also enters on a two-match winning streak, besting Loyola 7-0 and Xavier University of Louisiana 4-0.

Following the conference opener, the Privateers hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to Lake Charles, Louisiana for a Southland Conference match against McNeese State at 2 p.m.