HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After falling behind early by dropping the doubles point, the Louisiana Tech tennis team could not recover as they fell, 5-2, to Southern Miss on Sunday afternoon at the USM Tennis Courts.
 
LA Tech's (6-8, 1-3 C-USA) double play came into the day playing exceptionally well, winning seven of the last nine doubles points, including yesterday's match against UAB.  However, USM (7-2, 2-1 C-USA) struck first and then added on singles wins from the top four spots.
 
"We learned a hard lesson today about showing up sharp every match," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "Our doubles, which was so good yesterday, was flat and we could not overcome it.  We battled again in singles, but I would have loved to see the team put itself in position for Ilana to play a full third set.  She really had a lot of momentum after closing the second set for us."
 
After the Golden Eagles got the first point by picking up wins on courts two and three, Claudia Oravcova made quick work of Tanit Lopez at the No. 6 spot in singles, winning 6-3, 6-0.  The senior has now won six of her last eight matches and is a perfect 3-0 in league matches this season.
 
USM regained the advantage though as Sarha Medik and Katia de la Garza grabbed straight-set wins on courts two and one, respectively.  The home team then got the clinching point from Ebru Zeynep Yazgan at the No. 4 position.
 
The remaining two courts – three and five – split the first two sets and decided the points via a superbreaker instead of playing out the third.  Ilana Tetruashvili lost, 10-6, at No. 3 to Monique Burton while Madalena Amil won, 10-6, at No. 5 against Stephanie Booth.
 
"Claudia played fantastic today and Madalena really came through at five.  No doubt, Southern Miss is a really tough team, especially at home, but the takeaway today is the need to be ready from the start.
 
"Bottom line, we are really consistently competing overall.  Once we get these small things figured out, they will make a big difference in our future matches."
 
LA Tech will play its fifth and final C-USA match of the regular season, which is its next action coming up on Friday, March 26 at North Texas.  First serve is set for 3 p.m.
 
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