Women's Tennis Finishes Four-Match Homestand Undefeated After 5-2 Victory Against Northwestern State

BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans women's tennis team concluded a four-match homestand on Sunday afternoon against Southland Conference foe Northwestern State, besting the visitors 5-2.

New Orleans' (10-3, 4-1 Southland Conference) win over Northwestern State (10-5, 3-2 Southland Conference) snaps a six-match skid against the Demons, and is the first victory over NWST since joining them in the Southland Conference.

"What a weekend we had!" head coach Burzis Kanga said. "These past two opponents were tough and challenged us, but in both matches we rose to the occasion. I could not be happier with the way we executed; if we can continue to play at this level we should be considered one of the favorites to win the conference."

In double plays, Northwestern State took a 6-0 decision on court three and split a pair of 6-3 matches to take the doubles point. Senior Anna Segarra Rius and junior Anja Luethi won at the top doubles slot, while senior Yasmine Rashad and sophomore Trang Dao lost 6-3 at the second position. Sophomore Brittany Johnson and freshman Claudette Gilhespie lost 6-0 at the third flight.

UNO quickly tied up the overall score with a commanding 6-1, 6-0 victory for Rashad on court six. Gilhespie and Johnson, playing on courts four and five, were the next two to finish with flipped scores of 6-4 and 7-5 to move the Privateers within one game of clinching the match.

Dao, playing at the top flight, won her opening set 6-4, but a reversed score in the second frame forced a tiebreaker. The sophomore made quick work of her NWST counterpart 6-2 to clinch the victory for UNO. With the match decided, Luethi's matched ended with a 7-6, 7-5 loss while Segarra's opponent retired in the third set of a 4-6, 6-3 contest.

The Privateers are back in action on Saturday, Mar. 19 when they take on Abilene Christian on the road.
 
New Orleans 5, Northwestern State 2
 
Singles competition
1. Trang Dao (UNO) def. Polina Ivanova (NWST) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
2. Iryna Vardanian (NWST) def. Anja Luethi (UNO) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5
3. Anna Segarra Rius (UNO) def. Emilija Dancetovic (NWST) 4-6, 6-3, 1-1, retired
4. Claudette Gilhespie (UNO) def. Vladislava Litvinova (NWST) 6-4, 7-5
5. Brittany Johnson (UNO) def. Judit Castillo (NWST) 7-5, 6-4
6. Yasmine Rashad (UNO) def. Kateryna Avram (NWST) 6-1, 6-0
 
Doubles competition
1. Anja Luethi/Anna Segarra Rius (UNO) def. Polina Ivanova/Emilija Dancetovic (NWST) 6-3
2. Iryna Vardanian/Judit Castillo (NWST) def. Trang Dao/Yasmine Rashad (UNO) 6-3
3. Kateryna Avram/Vladislava Litvinova (NWST) def. Brittany Johnson/Claudette Gilhespie (UNO) 6-0