MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Instead of receiving her stole for graduation, Claudia Oravcova was in Tennessee providing the clinching point in helping Louisiana Tech defeat WKU, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at the Adams Tennis Center.
 
LA Tech (5-4, 1-0 C-USA) claimed the doubles point and grabbed the first singles point, going up 2-0.  WKU (1-7, 0-1 C-USA) fought back though, winning three straight matches to take a 3-2 edge. 
 
After the Lady Techsters evened it up at 3-all, Oravcova, who is graduating with a degree in Management, won the last two games of the third set to record the conference victory.
 
"I'm very happy to put another match in the win column," said head coach Amanda Stone.  "Today's match was a really good one for us to pull out.  We needed a hard-earned win.  We have a tough schedule left and proving today that we can fight back when our back is against the wall is huge.  We made good progress as a team."
 
The Hilltoppers won the first match of the day, posting a 6-1 victory at the No. 2 spot in doubles.  However, the tandem of Leonie Schuknecht and Ilana Tetruashvili stayed hot by winning their fifth straight at No. 1 with a 6-2 win.
 
Not long after that, Alexia Romero and Lara Unkovich took care of business on court three with a 6-2 win to put LA Tech up 1-0.
 
"I think our doubles are getting better each week and we put the matches away on both one and three when we had the first opportunity," said Stone.
 
Tetruashvili made quick work of her opponent, Samantha Martinez, with a 6-0, 6-2 victory on court two to give the Lady Techsters the first singles win of the day.  The junior improved to 4-1 at the No. 3 spot this spring.   
 
The Hilltoppers ran off three straight wins to take the momentum away as Laura Bernardos, Lisa Friess and Cora-Lynn Von Dungern picked up points.
 
Romero came through though LA Tech, outlasting Lauren Joch by a final score of 7-6 (6), 7-5 at the No. 4 position.  It was the sophomore's team-leading seventh win of the dual season.
 
It all came down to the final match on court six.  Oravcova won the first set 6-3, but Alexis Cramer forced a third set.  Tied at 4-all in the third, Oravcova won the deuce point to break her opponent's serve.  She then served out the match, winning three straight points after falling behind 15-40.
 
"Ilana and Alexia continue to be so reliable," said Stone.  "They are both playing really tough.  Claudia stepped up big time for us at the bottom.  She kept her intensity and composure.  We've been talking about finding a way to win and Claudia was a great example of that today."
 
LA Tech will return to action tomorrow to face Middle Tennessee.  First serve is set for 3 p.m. at the Adams Tennis Center.
 
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