RUSTON – Louisiana Tech heads into the first round of the 2021 Women's Tennis Championship on Thursday when they face Charlotte at 3 p.m. at the Waranch Tennis Complex.
 
LA Tech (9-10) has played some of its best tennis of the spring here recently, winning three of the last four matches heading into postseason play. 
 
The Lady Techsters are coming off back-to-back victories over in-state opponents, defeating Northwestern State at home by a score of 5-2 and then closing out the regular season with an emphatic 7-0 road shutout against McNeese State.
 
The doubles lineup has been unchanged for the last eight matches with Leonie Schuknecht/Ilana Tetruashvili holding down the top spot, Madalena Amil/Anastasiia Salenko teaming up at No. 2 and Alexia Romero/Claudia Oravcova playing at No. 3.
 
Schuknecht and Tetruashvili lead the way with a team-high 10 victories, having won 10 of their last 12 matches. 
 
The singles lineup will likely resemble that of the last handful of matches with the freshman Schuknecht anchoring the top position, followed by Salenko, Tetruashvili, Romero, Amil and Oravcova.
 
Romero leads the charge with a team-high 12 singles victories.  The longest active winning streak in singles belongs to Amil who has won four straight from that No. 5 spot. 
 
Charlotte (20-6) having won five of its last six matches with the lone loss coming against league opponent Florida Atlantic.  The 49ers have wins over Middle Tennessee and Marshall in their other conference action this spring.
 
Ruxi Schech has been a steady force at the No. 1 spot, producing a 13-4 overall singles record.  Teammate Rocio Safont has held down the No. 3 position, recording a team-best 17 singles wins while riding a 10-match winning streak. 
 
In dual doubles, the 49ers are a combined 46-23 with Schech/Sawhney owning an 18-5 record. 

LA Tech and Charlotte have met twice on the courts, both times coming in the C-USA Tournament.  The Lady Techsters knocked out the 49ers in 2016, but they returned the favor by winning 4-3 in 2017. 

A link to live stats will be available on LATechSports.com and the LA Tech Athletics app.  Twitter users can follow @LATechTEN for live in-match updates.