IRVINE, Calif. – The Louisiana Tech tennis team closed out its trip out west in strong fashion, shutting out UC Irvine by a score of 4-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Anteater Tennis Complex.
 
After dropping hard-fought matches to Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly, LA Tech (10-9) came back to take the doubles point and points from courts one, two and six in singles.
 
With the victory, the Lady Techsters reached double-digit wins for the second straight year and for the eighth time in the last 10 years.   
 
"Winning 4-0 today was huge," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "We're playing with a lot of confidence and you can tell our players are starting to really believe they can play with anyone.  I'm really proud of Nadja for getting some top wins this week and leading us at the one spot in singles and doubles.  Claudia has been sick and she stepped up today, gutting out the fourth point when we needed the decision."
 
After going down 1-0 in the last two matches, LA Tech came out and grabbed the opening point to set the tone for the match against UC Irvine (5-7). 
 
The lineups went back to usual and Andrea Perez-Lopez and Nadja Manjon teamed up on court one to register a big 6-4 win over Flora Amiri and Arianna Tilbury.    
 
After the Anteaters evened things up with a 6-4 win of their own on court three, it came down to court two where Ana Jover and Claudia Oravcova continued their winning ways as a duo (13-5 this spring) with a 6-4 victory against Stephanie Nguyen and Alyssia Fossorier. 
 
The sophomore Jover made it 2-0 in favor of the Lady Techsters with her 14th singles victory, defeating Amiri by a final score of 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 position.    
 
Manjon followed, winning by the same set score against Nguyen for her second straight victory from the top of the lineup.  And Oravcova closed things out, clinching the match with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Fossorier for her eighth singles win.
 
"I'm really happy with the performance this week," said Stone.  "We competed really well against both Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly.  We've consistently produced great results against top teams this season.  This is one of the hardest schedules we have played and it's really toughening up our team.  You see that reflected in the wins against solid teams like today against UC Irvine. 
 
"It's awesome to see leadership from our upperclassmen.  Overall, the whole team is playing for more than themselves and it made a difference this week."
 
LA Tech will make the long trek home, getting over a week's rest before returning to action on Tuesday, March 17.  It will be a home double-header at the Ruston Sports Complex, starting at 1 p.m. against Northwestern State and at 7 p.m. versus Grambling State which will also be Senior Night.
 
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