Despite capturing two matches, the Lady Colonel tennis team fell to Southland Conference opponent Southeastern Louisiana University 6-1 Tuesday afternoon at the Nicholls tennis courts. Nicholls lone point came when Rachel Wade defeated Carina Hultqvuist 7-6, 6-1 in singles play.
In doubles action, the tandem of Wade and Gauthier defeated Anne Mette and Hultqvuist 8-4, while the team of Sandra Gloria and Virginie Villlani fell to Anna Doan and Karin Mohl 8-3.
To qualify for points in doubles, a school must win two matches. Since Nicholls only has five players, they can only compete in two matches. Normally a team receives the opportunity to play three doubles matches. “We had a chance to take the doubles point if we would have won both of them, but we just couldn’t come through,” Lady Colonel tennis coach Robby Flink said.
In other singles action, Mette defeated Gauthier 6-1, 6-3 in the first match, while Doan beat Villani 6-1, 6-0 in match No. 2.
Also, Gloria fell to Mohl 6-2, 6-3 in the third match, while Yessica Rizelia blanked Lady Colonel Emily Guidry 6-0, 6-0 in match No. 5.
Flink said he was pleased with team’s effort but at the same time he understands the difficulty his team faced after playing two matches out of state.
“Southeastern is a strong team that is well-coached,” Flink said. “We had to play UTA who is No. 1 in the conference this past weekend, and it’s not easy coming off the road to play a tough team of the caliber of SLU.”
Before hosting Southeastern on Tuesday, the Lady Colonel tennis team faced conference opponent Sam Houston State on Sunday and the University of Texas-Arlington on Saturday.
At Sam Houston State, Nicholls was beaten 6-1 in match play. The lone singles win for the Lady Colonels came when Virginia Villani defeated Stephanie Sutton 7-6, 6-4 in match No. 2.
In doubles action, Villani and teammate Catherine Gauthier came up just short against Ivette Andrade and Kim Gardiner, falling 8-6.
At UTA, Nicholls was swept 7-0 with the closest match being one where the doubles tandem of Gauthier and Rachel Wade were defeated 9-7 by Maria Stepanova and Jitka Vetrovcoval.
The Lady Colonels will return to action Saturday when they host SLC opponent Southwest Texas State, before hosting the University of Texas-San Antonio in a SLC match Sunday.
