New Orleans - The New Orleans Privateers women's tennis team will begin their journey in the Southland Conference tournament on Friday. The 7-seed Privateers will face the 2-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in Beaumont, Texas. The match is slated for a 10 a.m. start.
The Privateers assured their spot in the Southland tournament with a 5-2 win over Lamar in the regular season finale on Apr. 15. New Orleans finished the regular season with a 10-10 mark overall and a 4-7 record in conference play.
"No one in this conference is unbeatable, but it will be a combined team effort to win this match," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "We just need to go out there and play our game and have the right mindset."
In the regular season meeting between the sides, the Islanders took a 5-2 victory in Corpus Christi. The Islanders won the doubles point and singles matches at flight two, three, four, and five. New Orleans earned their points through
Trang Dao at flight one singles and
Mar Gendra at flight six.
Gendra's victory in the match against the Islanders came in three sets. This season, Gendra was 4-1 in three-set matches. Her 6-2 conference mark was the best record of any Privateer in singles. Gendra was also undefeated (5-0) in conference at flight six.
The Islanders suffered only one conference loss and racked out on recognition from the conference. Two players (Luna Dormet and Marina Vicens Miquel) made the first team in singles. Jelena Dzinic and Louise Trigona earned second team honors. Dormet also won Freshman of the Year.
On the year, the Islanders finished with a 15-6 mark. They were undefeated in nine matches at home. The Islanders' only conference loss came by a 5-2 score against 1-seed, McNeese on Mar. 26. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ended the season on a seven-match winning streak.
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