Box Score Huntsville, Texas - It was a lengthy battle in singles, with five matches going three sets as the New Orleans Privateers women's tennis team (9-10, 3-7) fell 6-1 to the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Saturday afternoon.
The Privateers' lone point came when
Yurina Asai won at flight four in singles. Asai's match was the last to finish on the day. The sophomore took the first set 6-3, but her opponent came back with a 6-4 win in set two. Asai staved off a late rally to win the final set 6-4 after jumping to a 4-0 lead.
Sam Houston State (11-5, 6-3) started the day by winning doubles against a reshuffled Privateers lineup. The Bearkats took a 6-3 decision at flight two and ended the opening point with a 6-4 victory at flight one doubles. The Privateers were ahead 5-4 at flight three with
Anja Luethi and
Mar Gendra teamed up when the point was decided.
The only singles match to finish in straight sets was at flight two. Sahaja Yamalapalli took a 6-3, 6-0 decision to vault the Bearkats to a 2-0 lead in the match. From there, New Orleans took every match down to the wire but could not break through in a critical road match.
Trang Dao came back from dropping the first set to win the second against Fabienne Gettwart. However, Gettwart, one of five seniors on the roster took the third set 6-3 to give the Bearkats a 3-0 lead. The match was clinched at flight six when Mila Milanovic came back from down 4-1 in the third set to win 7-5.
New Orleans also had third set leads at flight three and five, but the Bearkats came back to win both of those matches. The loss dropped the Privateers to 1-4 in their last five matches.
The regular season will close with a crucial match against the Lamar Cardinals on Sunday in Beaumont. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
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