RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech tennis team will jump right into the 2021 dual season this weekend as they will take on Tulsa, Wyoming and Central Arkansas at the two-day Hurricane Invite at the Case Tennis Center in Oklahoma.
 
LA Tech will first take on host Tulsa on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.  Then after a lunch break, the Lady Techsters will play singles against Wyoming.  The matchup will conclude on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. with doubles and will be followed by a full match against Central Arkansas.
 
This will mark the fourth straight year the Lady Techsters open their spring slate in the indoor event hosted by the Golden Hurricane.
 
The team was able to see action in two fall tournaments back in October, including their own invitational where they racked up 19 total victories over the course of two days.
 
Key returners are senior Claudia Oravcova, junior Ilana Tetruashvili and sophomore Alexia Romero.  Oravcova enters the year with 35 career dual victories in doubles which already ranks 10th in program history. 
 
Look for Tetruashvili to see more action at the top of the singles lineups, having played primarily at the No. 3 spot over the course of her two seasons.  And Romero looks to take another step forward in her development as she is coming off a freshman campaign where she earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors.
 
Newcomers who will see their first collegiate action as Lady Techsters are junior college transfer Anastasiia Salenko and the two freshmen Leonie Schuknecht and Lara Unkovich.  Salenko and Schuknecht are in line to compete in the top three positions in singles like they did in the fall.
 
Meanwhile, Unkovich looks to build on a solid fall where they produced a team-best seven combined victories in singles and doubles. 
 
Fans can watch a live stream and follow live stats of all three matches by going to www.streamingtennis.com/tulsa/.  Twitter users can follow @LATechTEN for updates.