THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University tennis program hosted UIW for a Southland Conference doubleheader and the men started the day off with a 4-3 victory before the women were defeated, 4-1, on Thursday at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex.

The Nicholls men (7-9, 1-3 SLC) notched their first conference win of the season and also snapped a five-match skid in the all-time series against UIW (12-4, 1-1 SLC). The teams split the singles points with the Colonels securing doubles for the victory. 

The No. 1 court in doubles went in favor of the visiting Cardinals but Omar Morsy and Quentin Lamothe evened it up with a 6-2 win over Marwin Kralemann and former Colonel Antoine Martin-Thiriat. What turned out to be the deciding point, Lukas Morand and Antonio Sasso outlasted Noah de Luna and Arnau Miralles on the No. 3 court in a 7-5 decision. 

Nicholls moved closer to securing the match with straight-set wins at No. 1 and 4 by Morsy and Lamothe. But UIW stormed back, taking courts 6, 2 and 5 to tie the match at 3-3. On the final court, Harry Collins picked up a 6-4 win at No. 3 in the opening set against Arnau Miralles and then clinched the match with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3) victory.

For the women, Nicholls (9-10, 1-3 SLC) received a solid showing from Carla Bouygues as she went 2-0 on the day with wins at No. 3 doubles and 4 singles. But the Colonels would come up short in the rest of the completed matches.

UIW (12-5, 3-0 SLC) picked up a shutout in No. 1 doubles and after Bouygues and Dareen Hassan tied it up with a 6-3 win at No. 2, the third match ended up being a battle. Noemie Piquet and Sophia Sara Safarova slugged it out against Amelie Montalvo/Gargi Pawar before the visitors won in the tiebreaker, 7-6 (14-12). 

In singles, Bouygues won 6-4, 6-4 over Pawar on Line 4. Although UIW clinched the match with three straight-set wins, Safarova's two sets ended at 7-5. For the two unfinished matches, Laura Lopez split her first two sets and Piquet was tied in her second when play was suspended. 

UP NEXT
Both teams return to action on Sunday as the Colonels host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a doubleheader at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex. The women kick off the day with an 11 a.m. first ball.