SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Nicholls State University tennis teams took the doubles point in both of the women's and men's matches, but the Colonels came up just short in singles play as Nicholls dropped both matches, 4-3, Sunday at the Clarence Mabry Tennis Center.
For the women, the match came down to the No. 5 court with
Changwei Wei falling in a closely contested battle with Alejandra Tamayo, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 (10). The Colonels suffered the same fate for the men as
Oleksander Podgursky lost in three sets, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5), to Joey Vatanadilok at No. 4 for the decisive point.
"I want to give tremendous credit to Incarnate Word. They really played the big points tougher today and that was the difference," said head coach
Greg Harkins. "I'm really proud of both teams for giving us the opportunity to win the matches, but I am disappointed we were unable to come through and win the matches."
The women started out by winning doubles after another close finish.
Ambika Pande and Andrea Mastrippilito won at No. 3 and following a loss at No. 2,
Lingfeng Gu and
Clemence Krug clinched the point with a 7-6 win.
In singles, Nicholls (6-7, 1-6 SLC) won two of the first three completed matches to grab a 3-1 lead. Krug won in straight sets at No. 2 and
Mariia Kozachok won in straight sets as well at No. 4. But UIW evened it up with wins at 3 and 1 before going on to take the match after the thrilling No. 5 match between Wei and Tamayo.
For the men, the Colonels swept doubles play with wins by Podgursky and
Max Sinn at 2 and
Leo Santos and
Cornelius Schramm at 3.
In singles play, Santos and Schramm gave Nicholls a 3-0 lead with straight set wins at 5 and 6, respectively. But UIW stormed back to win the final four matches to keep the Colonels (5-8, 0-4 SLC) winless in conference.
"I have seen tremendous growth throughout this season," Harkins said. "We are still learning and growing as teams, and we have gained a lot of experience and we will keep working mentally and physically. Today, we came up short but we will be better in the long run. "
UP NEXT
The men will take on Southern Miss on the road on Saturday, April 8, while the women host Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 1.
