NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers women's tennis team gutted out a near four-hour battle as they defeated the Jackson State Tigers 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon at the Privateer Tennis Center.
Iris Danne was resilient in her comeback from a set down to win the deciding point. After dropping the first set, Danne persevered with a service break to finish off the second set in her favor. She had to rally from down a break three times in the third set, but responded every time including the last which tied the score at 5-5.
In the tiebreak, Danne was patient and waited for her opportunities as she built a 5-1 lead that proved to be insurmountable. Danne eventually won the tiebreak 7-2 to move the Privateer record to 3-1.
"All credit to Jackson State. They have a good team and it wasn't an easy match for us, but we came through with the win," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "I was just telling Iris to relax and not worry about the scoreboard. She played a good tiebreaker today."
New Orleans got out to a fast start in doubles as they won on the first two courts. Danne and
Anastassia Kouchnareva won 6-2 at flight one while
Kateryna Kalistratova and
Fleur Sprengers won 6-4 at flight two.
The Privateers got to a 2-0 advantage after Sprengers dominated in her match. She only dropped three games on the way to a 6-2, 6-1 victory at flight three.
Nouray Khaled got the other singles point for the Privateers. In a match that went back and forth, Khaled controlled the pace in the third set of a 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 win.
Jackson State pushed through with Zeina Shaaban to tie the score at 3-3.
Kateryna Kalistratova rallied from down 5-1 in the third set and got it back on serve, but Shaaban broke again late on to take the final set 7-5 and bring it to the deciding match at flight five.
NEXT UP
The Privateers open conference play against Northwestern State on Saturday, Mar. 1 at 11 a.m.
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