CONWAY, Ark. – The Louisiana Tech Tennis team wrapped up its first action on the courts since mid-March with the conclusion of the UCA Fall Invitational this weekend.
The highlight of the tournament for LA Tech came in Flight 2 doubles where sophomore
Alexia Romero and freshman
Lara Unkovich teamed up to win all three matches and take the flight title.
"I am proud of how our team competed overall," said head coach
Amanda Stone. "Day one was rough. The lack of practice and first tournament nerves showed up, but that wasn't unexpected. We talked it out and made a goal, win or lose, that we would be the players playing the aggressive points on day two.
"With that mindset, we came out and had a great end of the tournament, especially Alexia and Lara who both went 3-0 on the day. Our doubles were aggressive and we beat some great teams in Flight 2 to win."
On day one, Romero and Unkovich defeated Oleksandra Nahurska and Gorana Kadijevic of Oral Roberts by a final score of 6-4.
The duo returned on day two and picked up back-to-back victories. The first one came in a hard-fought 7-5 win over the host Central Arkansas' duo of Mei Ishimura and Yada Vasuponchai, handing them their only loss of the fall season.
Romero and Unkovich made it a clean sweep when they took down the tandem of Shelby King and Jill Morse of Arkansas State by a score of 6-3.
Both Romero and Unkovich also picked up singles victories. For Romero, hers came in Flight 4 with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets win against King (Arkansas State). And for Unkovich, she bested Mary Houston of Missouri State in Flight 8 with a 7-5, 7-6 win.
The newcomer doubles duo of freshman
Leonie Schuknecht and junior
Anastasiia Salenko grabbed a win on the final day as well, taking it 7-5 against Ellie Burger and Alyson Piskulic of Missouri State in the top doubles flight.
Schuknecht was also impressive playing in the top singles flight. Playing in her first collegiate tourney, the Germany native lost all three matches, but all three split sets and were lost in a third-set superbreaker.
"In singles, I thought Leonie had a great showing," said Stone. "She had points in every match to pull out pretty big upsets and at this point that's great. We have a lot of fighters this year and they showed that this weekend."
Stay tuned for news of more fall tournaments that LA Tech will be participating in. Fans can follow LA Tech Tennis on Twitter (@LATechTEN), Instagram (@LATechTennis) and Facebook (LATechTennis).
