RUSTON, La. - The Nicholls State University women's tennis team started its 2020 spring season on Saturday and defeated Grambling, 4-0, following a 6-1 loss to Louisiana Tech at the Ruston Sports Complex.
Featuring two returning letterwinners,
Lingfeng Gu and
Mariia Kozachok, along with five newcomers, the Colonels (1-1) swept Grambling in doubles before taking the first three completed singles matches. Against LA Tech (2-3), freshman
Carla Bouygues came up with a hard-fought win at No. 5 singles over Andrea Perez-Lopez for the Colonels' lone point.
"We did get off to a slow start in our first match, but I was pleased with how we finished," said
Greg Harkins, Nicholls tennis head coach. "Five of the six lines featured tiebreakers against a solid Tech team that already has five matches under its belt. We then came out strong against a game Grambling team and finished the day off in the way that we'd like."
Along with Bouygeus' win against the Lady Techsters,
Simona Maksimovic and
Morgan Forshag won their second sets at No. 1 and 6, respectively, before falling in the tiebreaker.
Mikaela Konstantinova also had a good showing in her second set at No. 4, but came up short in a 7-6 (7-5) decision.
In the win against Grambling, Forshag/Bouygues and Konstantinova/Kozachok earned victories in doubles for the 1-0 lead. For singles, Maksimovic won via retirement at No. 1 before Forshag took No. 5, 6-3, 6-0.
Laura Lopez ended the match with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3.
Nicholls claimed victories in the first sets of the three unfinished matches and led in all three second sets.
UP NEXT
Nicholls will make its home debut Thursday, Feb. 6 against Jacksonville State and will host Samford on Saturday. Both matches at the Colonel Tennis Complex are scheduled to begin at noon.
STAY SOCIAL
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