JONESBORO, Ark. – The Louisiana Tech tennis team narrowly fell, 4-3, to Missouri State in a neutral site match on Saturday at the RidgePointe Country Club.
 
Forced to reshuffle its doubles lineup due to the absence of Lara Unkovich, LA Tech (6-6) still pulled out the opening point to go up 1-0 in the match.  The Lady Techsters registered wins on courts one and four in singles, but MSU (4-7) notched four points on the remaining courts to take it.
 
"Despite the shakeup in doubles, we continue to get stronger in that area," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "We were not at one hundred percent today with Lara being out and Claudia playing through some aches. 
 
"We still had our chances with Leonie closing out both of her tough sets and Alexia toughing another one out.  I am looking forward to the team getting back to full health as we hit the home stretch of this season."
 
Anastasiia Salenko and Madalena Amil teamed up for the very first time and recorded a 6-2 win over Hana Sisirak and Alyson Piskulic, 6-2, on court two. 
 
Another new tandem, Alexia Romero and Claudia Oravcova, teamed up together.  They too picked a win, clinching the doubles point with a 6-3 victory versus Mary Houston and Mara Presot. 
 
For Oravcova, it was a milestone victory as it was the senior's 40th career dual doubles win, becoming only the sixth player in program history to do so. 
 
With only three indoor courts available, the top three singles lines played first.  The Bears took their first lead of the day with straight-set wins on courts two and three. 
 
However, Leonie Schuknecht tied things up at 2-2 for the Lady Techsters with a gritty 7-6 (9), 7-5 win against Hana Sisirak at the No. 1 position. 
 
Romero gave LA Tech its third point of the day, outlasting MSU's Houston by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at the No. 4 spot.  The sophomore continues her strong play, improving to 9-3 on the season (team-high in wins). 
 
However, the Bears countered with a two straight-sets win at court five and six to reach four points.
 
LA Tech's match on Sunday against Arkansas State has been canceled, and its home match on Tuesday, March 16 has been postponed to April.  The next action for the Lady Techsters will be a pair of C-USA matches against UAB and Southern Miss on March 20 and 21, respectively.
 
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