Sept. 17, 2016 MONROE, La. ââ'¬" There may have been some nervousness on day one of the Warhawk Invitational for the Louisiana Tech tennis team, but that was not the case on Saturday as the Lady Techsters won 10 matches while claiming two singles and one doubles titles at Raymond Heard Stadium.
Participating in their first tournament of the fall season and under the direction of new head coach Amanda Stone, both Marta Sramkova and Sonia Chen were both able to win in a third set tiebreaker to take home Flight B and D, respectively.
Meanwhile the doubles tandem of Alba Escalona Perny and Haley Ballinger had a convincing win in the finals to grab the Flight C championship.
"I am happy with the fight and resilience we showed this weekend," head coach Amanda Stone said. "Going 10-1 on Saturday says a lot about our potential. We showed a lot of heart and I am proud of the team for giving their best effort."
The senior Sramkova cruised into the finals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Vanesa Pardo (Stephen F. Austin) and a 6-4, 6-4 victory versus Sade Atkinson (Tulane). After dropping her first set of the tourney to start the finals, she took back-to-back sets in a tiebreaker to down Madaline Grigoriu of ULM.
It was a similar story for Chen who overpowered Natalie Duran (SELU) 6-1, 6-1 in the first round and Marina Garcia (ULL) 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals before getting into a battle with Luana Stanciu of ULM. The marathon match ultimately went the way of Chen by a score of 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2).
Also picking up singles victories were Jazmin Britos who got third place in Flight A with a three-set win against Dany Raygades (SELU) and a convincing 6-1, 6-3 victory over Danise Maxl (SFA) in the semifinal consolation.
Nadja Manjon, Escalona Perny and Ballinger were each able to notch one singles win in the back draw of their flights.
In doubles, Perny and Ballinger outlasted Bustamante/Duran of Southeastern Louisiana in the semifinals before downing Shiaelis/Ortega of Louisiana-Lafayette by a score of 6-2 in the finals.
Britos and Sramkova teamed up to get runner-up in Flight A while Chen and Manjon grabbed two victories to win the backdraw of Flight B.
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