Jan. 29, 2009

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Louisiana Tech will hit the courts for the first time in 2009 Friday, Jan. 30, on the road to take on the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks to open the spring season.

"I really feel comfortable with the girls we have this year," Tech head coach Quintin Yray said. "This is the best team since I've been here. We're looking to get better every year, and I'm excited about the upcoming matches to see where we are."

The Techsters have not competed since October in the UT-Tyler Tournament where they competed in three singles' flights and one doubles' flight.

Sophomore Mallory Smith had the best finish o reaching the final of the pink flight after beating Ashley Chamblee of UTT (6-3, 6-2), Vanessa Molina of Tyler Junior College (6-3, 6-4) and Jamie Williams of Stephen F. Austin (6-4, 6-1) before falling in the final round to Andi Enica (3-6, 0-6) of SFA.

In the black flight, senior Ada Mekowska lost to both Rozana Enica of SFA (1-6, 0-6) and Sureena Weir of TJC (1-6, 3-6), while in the same flight, senior Ashley Wedderburn was unable to pick up a win, losing to Marie Liwusilili of Collin (0-6, 5-7) and Sarah Irvin of Memphis (0-6, 0-6).

Freshman Maartje DeWitt picked up a three-set win against UTT's Lauren Giovannini by final score of 6-2, 2-6 and 10-8 before losing to Cally Woerner of Collin 3-6, 4-6. Sophomore Ricio Juarez also competed in the gold flight losing first to Peta Taylor of Sam Houston State 0-6 and 1-6 before rolling off two wins in a row, first against Sydni Hermsdorf (6-3, 6-0) and then Reese Hall of Temple (6-3, 6-4) before losing to Giovannini 3-6 and 2-6.

In the doubles' competition, the team of DeWitt and Juarez lost 9-7 first to the team of Nastasa/Keihari and then 8-4 to Hermsdorf/Nielsen.

The match with SFA is set to begin at 3 p.m.