For the 2008 season, the men and women’s Nicholls tennis team are ranked second in the Southland Conference. The men are trailing behind Southeastern Louisiana University, and the women are behind Northwestern State.
This season the Lady Colonels have defeated all opponents with a perfect 5-0 record. The latest victory came on the road versus Jackson State. The Lady Colonels tamed the Tigers with a final score of 7-0.
The ladies won all three matches in doubles to win one point with outstanding play. Florina Nosca/Melissa Harrison defeated Paulina Vargas/Valenian Prado 8-3 in the first match, and Anne-Claire Murier/Natalia Zamora slid past Anglea Rose/Darel Smith 8-2 for the second match. In the third match, Sanja Stanojcic/Sumana Kalayanasundram conquered Geneva Warren/Dainela Pimental 8-0.
In singles action, the dominance continued. Nosca beat Vargas 6-4, 7-6, and Murier would shut out Warren 6-0,6-0. Harrison defeated Rose in the third match, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Stanojcic nearly shut out Smith 6-1, 6-1. Meanwhile, in the fifth match, Kalyanasundram would take down Prado 6-0, 6-0 in a perfect match. In the sixth match, September did the same to Pimental 6-0, 6-0.
Coach Jim Hunter was pleased with the way the ladies competed and commended the Jackson State tennis program.
” Jackson State has some good players and they are great host,” Hunter said. ” I am proud the way the ladies played in getting the win.”
On the men’s side of the court, the Colonels’ winning ways continued with the overall match ending in a shut-out 7-0. The men dominated all three matches in double points to earn the point. In the first match, Vlad Popa/Eric Fisher defeated Brandon Nelson/Nicholas Crawford 8-1. The second match, Radu Ionescu/Alex Gasca-Silav claimed a 9-8 victory over Artura Jimenez/Yacouba Traoe, while Sami Mouline/Phenyo Matong stripped Alejandro Martinez/Sergio Salinas 8-6 in the third match.
In singles play, Ionescu defeated Nelson 6-0, 6-2, and Fisher dominated Martinez in the second match 6-1, 6-0. In the third match, Popa beat Traoe 6-4, 6-2, and Matong routed Salinas in the fourth match 6-3, 6-2. Mouline took a 6-4, 6-0 win from Jimenez in the fifth match, and Chris Hernandez defeated Crawford 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 in the sixth match.
Coach Hunter said he wanted to try a different strategy for the doubles match.
” We wanted to work on some new pairings against Jackson State to see how it would work out,” Hunter said. The game before the Colonels hosted the Texas-Pan American Broncs. The Broncs would not only come to play tennis, but would also brought their poor attitudes and unsportsmanlike character.
There were two occurrences when Texas-Pan American coach Rob Hubbard had to dash to the courts to calm his players down. The first was when Texas-Pan American freshman Andrew Irving got into a heated exchange with Phenyou Matong over a ball being in or out.
The second came when Texas sophomore Brett Bernstein spat on the court and argued vehemently with senior Alex Gasca-Silav. In the stands, the grumble of fans could be heard.
” Look at that Texas player, cursing out our players and spitting on the courts in a rude manner, that type of play is uncalled for,” a fan said.
One fan said the referees should kick them out of the game.
“I can’t believe the referees are going to allow that behavior; they should disqualify them,” said another fan.
The men fell 5-2 by falling behind in team doubles and single match play. The ladies won with a final score of 4-3.
The Nicholls tennis program combined record is 12-4. The next home game, the men are hosting Texas-San Antonio. The match is slated for March 8 at 1 p.m. The ladies will be traveling the road to play Texas A&M Corpus Christi Feb. 29 at 10 a.m.
