CONWAY, Ark. – Participating in their first tournament of the fall season with just a few weeks of practice under their belt, the Louisiana Tech tennis team totaled 15 wins at the UCA Invitational that was hosted by the Bears at the UCA Tennis Courts.
 
LA Tech came away with two runner-up finishes by Nadja Manjon (flight two) and Rikona Murakami (flight four) in singles while Andrea Perez-Lopez and Ilana Tetruashvili teamed up to come out on top in all three matches to claim the flight three doubles title.

"I'm really proud of the team this weekend," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "Up and down the lineup, we showed a lot of intensity and fight.  We made mistakes, but we were doing the right things on the court.  The execution will come.  It's great to see them controlling points and playing aggressive this early."
 
Perez-Lopez/Tetruashvili pulled out a 6-2 victory on Friday and then turned around on Saturday to claim two more 6-2 victories over Quammen/Babos (Arkansas State) and Lundell/Powderly (SEMO). 
 
All three other doubles tandems for LA Tech posted one victory in the tourney, including Alexia Romero and Alana Sherman placing fourth in flight one and Manjon and Murakami placing fourth in flight two, both with victories over Arkansas State.
 
Manjon, making her return to the court after missing most of last spring with an injury, pulled out a 6-3, 7-6 win over Shannon O'Brien (ASU) and a 6-2, 7-5 victory against Emma Van Hee (Chattanooga) before falling in the finals. 
 
The freshman Murakami, seeing her first collegiate action, registered a 7-5, 6-3 win versus Maja Lundell of SEMO and then advanced to the finals of her flight due to her opponent's injury in the semifinals. 
 
Perhaps the most impressive singles victory came in flight one from Ana Jover who outlasted Fuka Nonoyama of UCA by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (7) in the first round. 
 
Sherman, also making her return to the court after missing all of last spring due to injury, won a marathon match as well, defeating Jill Morse (ASU) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (11) in the first round of flight two.
 
Next up for LA Tech is a trip down south to take part in the Ragin' Cajun Invitational, hosted by Louisiana-Lafayette, on Oct. 4-5 in Lafayette.
 
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