RUSTON – It was a successful home tournament for the Louisiana Tech Tennis team as they racked up 19 total victories over the two days in the LA Tech Invitational.
 
Playing in only their second event of the fall season and their first competition at the LA Tech Tennis Complex since April of 2019, LA Tech produced wins from all eight Lady Techsters throughout singles and doubles.
 
"I'm very thankful to our athletic department for the help in running the tournament," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "It was truly a team effort for the successful weekend.  We had great fan support and I want to especially thank our volunteers.
 
"Last week, I said I wanted to see growth and fight and the team really delivered on both.  There was tremendous growth compared to our first tournament.  And we loved doing it on our own courts."
 
Leonie Schuknecht was a big bright spot for the Lady Techsters as the freshman defeated Clara Mantaux (ULL) 6-4, 7-6 and Drousile Dzeubou (ULM) before falling in the finals of Flight 1 Singles. 
 
The freshman also teamed up with newcomer Anastasiia Salenko in Flight 1 Doubles, rebounding from an opening loss on Saturday to beat Brody/Guevremont of Arkansas State, 6-4, and Badwy/Grigoriu of ULM, 6-3, on Sunday.
 
The junior Salenko also played in Flight 1 Singles, picking up a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Hunter Roper of A-State. 
 
Another Lady Techster combining to win four matches was Ilana Tetruashvili, registering a runner-up finish in Flight 2 Singles with day one victories against Grambling State's Mikaila Coleman 6-1, 6-2 and ULM's Daniela Hernandez 6-1, 7-5. 
 
The junior played with Claudia Oravcova in Flight 3 Doubles, overpowering Dzeubou/Lopicic (ULM) by a score of 6-0 and Jordan/Santiago (ULL) by a score of 6-3.  Oravcova tacked on one singles win in Flight 3 Singles.
 
Alexia Romero overcame an opening singles loss in a super tiebreaker to post two victories in the consolation bracket of Flight 2.  The sophomore outlasted two players from Arkansas State -- Shelby King (ASU) 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (3) and Jill Morse 7-5, 6-4.
 
Romero and Lara Unkovich produced a 6-2 win in Flight 2 Doubles against Mantaux/Kierkegaard of ULL.  The freshman Unkovich was a third Lady Techster who had a runner-up finish in singles, this one from Flight 3 with a convincing 6-0, 6-3 over Christina Jordan (ULL) and a marathon match that ended up 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (5) over Nejla Zukic (ASU).  
 
In Flight 4 Singles, Madalena Amil and Madison Cefalu each won two singles matches against Grambling State.
 
"This weekend in singles, we had three players contending for flight championships where two weeks ago we struggled to scrape together a handful of wins," said Stone.  "Our doubles looked strong as well.
 
"We're doing a lot of things right, but there are still some areas for improvement.  Our best tennis is definitely ahead of us."
 
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