Box Score Nacogdoches, Texas - The New Orleans Privateers women's tennis team fell into an early deficit and could not recover in a 5-2 loss to the Stephen F. Austin Lady Jacks on Saturday afternoon at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
The Privateers (7-5, 1-2) got off to a great start with their top doubles tandem.
Anja Luethi and
Trang Dao got off the court quickly with a 6-1 victory. Stephen F. Austin responded with a 6-2 win of their own at the two spot. That moved the deciding match for the first point to number three doubles.
Brittany Johnson and
Lea Alguacil were pitted against Armelle Cerdan and Kaja Ljubic. The teams went back and forth and had to go to a tiebreak to decide the doubles poin. Cerdan and Lubic scored the first point, winning the tiebreak 7-2. From there, Stephen F. Austin kept the momentum going in singles.
The first match was ended in New Orleans' favor when Johnson coasted to a straight set victory, winning 6-3, 6-2 at number six. However, the home side took the next two singles matches at one and four to take a 3-1 lead.
Luethi got off the court with a 6-4, 6-1 victory, her 10
th of the spring in 12 completed matches. That narrowed the gap to 3-2 but Stephen F. Austin won the next point to decide the match. The deciding point was won at number three singles.
Claudette Gilhespie was on the short side of a 7-6, 7-6 decision. With the match decided, the last point played out and Alguacil was defeated in three sets.
The victory was the first for Stephen F. Austin (1-11, 1-4) this season and the first in almost a full calendar year. Their last win was a 6-1 decision over Incarnate Word on April 8, 2017.
New Orleans has a short turnaround ahead as they play Northwestern State on Sunday in Natchitoches.
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