Southern Miss
Louisiana
Women's Tennis Team Takes Downs Louisiana 4-3
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss women's tennis team pulled out a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Louisiana Saturday at the USM Tennis Courts.
The Golden Eagles improved to 6-2 overall while Louisiana dropped to 2-3 on the season.
"We played well as a team," head Coach Dominic Modise said. "We just fought until the end and that's what we're good at. We just need to believe more that we are a good team."
Southern Miss took the doubles point to start the match. Elena Roca and Kathrin Waidner defeated Abby Johnson and Alexandra Way 8-3 at No. 3 and Carolin Drescher and Alex Kitchen won 8-6 against Nelo Phiri and Kelly Drew at No. 1 to clinch the first point for the Golden Eagles. Louisiana took the win at No. 2 as Elena Sava and Melissa Burckhartt battled Claudia Castella and Lisa Schneider to a 9-8 victory.
In singles action, Roca won the Eagles' second point at No. 6 against Burckhartt 6-0, 6-1. The Ragin' Cajuns earned their first point when Kelly Drew defeated Lisa Schneider, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. Drescher then defeated Nelo at No. 1 to put Southern Miss up 3-1.
Louisiana's Sava battled back from a set down to defeat Castella, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3. Way then topped Karina Gurgenyan in three sets with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 to even the match at 3-3.
The final point came down to the No. 5 singles. Kitchen took the first set 6-4 over Johnson. Johnson then rallied in the second set for a 7-5 win. Kitchen took the final set 6-3 in clinching the match.
Southern Miss returns to action on Feb. 28 when the Golden Eagles travel to Northwestern State for an 11 a.m. match.
