March 31, 2011

RUSTON - Fresh off three-straight shutout wins, the Louisiana Tech tennis team will embark on a three-day tour of Hawai'i, starting with a match at Chaminade on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.

The Lady Techsters are 7-4 overall and 0-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. They are coming off two 7-0 wins over Grambling State and another over Nicholls State. Tech has enjoyed a 7-1 home record and look to improve on its 0-3 record away from Ruston.

In its last conference match, Tech showed improvement, but lost to a very tough Fresno State team 7-0 on March 12.

Following its match with NCAA Division II Chaminade (5-6) on Friday, Tech will remain on the island to play Idaho on Saturday and Hawai'i on Sunday. Both matches start at 6:30 p.m. CT.

The Vandals are 8-3, 1-1 in WAC play and have won their last four matches. Their latest win was a 4-3 victory over at New Mexico State.

The Rainbow Wahine are 5-10 overall and 0-1 in WAC play. The last time Hawai'i was in action, it hosted the first-ever Mauna Lani Bay Tennis Classic against national powerhouse UCLA. The `Bows feature the 109th player in the country in Katarina Poljakova. In its latest WAC match, UH lost 4-3 to Nevada on March 19.

This will be Tech's first appearance in Hawai'i since April 2009 when it lost in the first round of the WAC Championships. The Lady Techsters have never beaten Hawai'i or Idaho. They lost to the `Bows 5-2 in Ruston last season and lost to the Vandals 6-1 in Boise, Idaho.