MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Louisiana Tech had its historic season to come to an end on Thursday morning with a 4-1 loss to North Texas in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament at the Adams Tennis Center.
 
As LA Tech (18-6) was about to head to the complex for warmups, rain started to fall forcing the match indoors against North Texas (10-11).
 
Alexia Romero and Olga Bienzobas were two points away from winning on court three, but the Mean Green grabbed victories of 6-3 and 6-2 on courts one and two, respectively, to grab the opening point.
 
With only four courts available, the top four singles lines took to the courts.  And they were battles.
 
Tiffani Nash got off to a hot start at the No. 4 position, going up a set at 6-1 on Liisa Vehvilainen.  Her court neighbor Bienzobas also took the first set at the No. 2 spot versus Jasmine Adams.  UNT grabbed the first set though at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions and ultimately took a 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court three.
 
The remaining three courts went into a third set, including that of Leonie Schuknecht who jumped out to a 5-1 lead and ended up taking the second set by a score of 6-4 against Lucie Devier.
 
The two went back-and-forth in the third set with Schuknecht having a match point up 5-4, but Devier won the deuce point to break and then held serve to go ahead 6-5.  Schuknecht returned the favor, staving off a match point to force a tiebreaker, which ultimately went to UNT at 7-5.
 
Just prior to, Bienzobas was had a match point in the third set fended off by her opponent, but the sophomore regrouped and took the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. 
 
The team match wrapped up though as Vehvilainen turned things around and made a comeback win over Nash by a score of 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

QUOTABLES
Head coach Amanda Stone

"It definitely was a battle today.  We went toe-to-toe and came up just short.  Three doubles looked great and one doubles were right there, but did not convert enough of the big deuce points.  In singles, courts one and four could have gone either way and Olga really controlled the two sets she won.  It is too bad weather was a factor.  Our team really builds momentum from each other and depth is one of our main strengths.  Overall though, I am very proud of our team.  In seasons past, we have talked about closing the gap, but when it is mere points making the difference in a win or loss it means we have closed the gap.  It is exciting that our team is young and we have a lot of upside we can hit.  That definitely leaves the season in a hopeful way moving into next year." 
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech ended the 2022 season with 18 victories, the second most in program history.
• LA Tech won 11+ matches on all six singles lines this season.
• Olga Bienzobas ended the season on a three-match winning streak in singles, improving to 11-10.

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