RUSTON – Down the doubles point as well as a set on five of the six singles matches, Louisiana Tech mounted a big comeback to win four points all in three sets to defeat UAB by a final score of 4-2 on Sunday at the LA Tech Tennis Complex.
 
LA Tech (17-4, 3-1 C-USA) fell behind 2-0 early in the match after UAB (10-9, 2-1 C-USA) grabbed the opening point with wins of 6-4 and 6-1 in doubles and then a straight-sets wins on court two for the first completed singles match.
 
The only opening set the home team was able to win was Leonie Schunecht on court one.  The Blazers had all the momentum on the other courts, winning sets by scores of 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3.
 
Then that momentum started to shift.  Najah Dawson, Tiffani Nash, Ilana Tetruashvili and Alexia Romero all forced third sets on their respectively courts.  The first point for LA Tech came from Nash on court four who battled back to defeat Jana Hecking 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
 
Dawson made it a second comeback win and tied things up at 2-2 on court three after producing a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory against Mackenzie White.  It was back and forth in third set, but the senior was able to break serve to take the win.
 
Tetruashvili gutted out the third point for LA Tech on court five.  After having two chances to serve out the match in the third set, it ultimately went into a tiebreaker.  It was 5-all before the senior claimed back-to-back points to outlast Annalisa Smith by a score of 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5).
 
With Schuknecht and Alexia Romero both up 5-4 in the third set on their courts, it ended up being Romero who sealed the deal with the team's fourth comeback of the day, winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Enya Ratkic.

COMEBACK COMPLETE!! pic.twitter.com/lu7yx1xWT3

— LA Tech Tennis 🎾 (@LATechTennis) April 3, 2022

 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amanda Stone
 
"I am so proud of how much grit and fight our team had today.  We knew going into this weekend that all the conference matches between these teams were going to come down to a matter of points.  We really rallied as a team on all courts in singles.  We had to weather the storm with UAB grabbing the early momentum, but we stuck to the game plans and fought through it.  Fitness played a big role and it was nice to see the hard work this year in that area pay off when we needed it.  A lot of credit to our players for battling to the last point and delivering a win as a team today."
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech picked up its 17th victory of the spring season, tied for the second most in program history and the most since 1994.
• The series is now tied between LA Tech and UAB at 6-6.
• LA Tech won its fourth match of the season when dropping the doubles point.
• All four of LA Tech's singles victories came in three sets.
• Ilana Tetruashvili won her team-leading 16th singles match of the spring.She improved to 7-1 at the No. 5 position.
• Najah Dawson won her 13th single match of the season, improving to 10-2 at the No. 3 spot.
• Tiffani Nash won her fourth straight singles match, picking up her first victory from the No. 4 position.
• Alexia Romero provided the clinching point for the third time this season.She won her third straight singles match, all coming in three sets.She is 4-0 this season when playing a full three sets.

UP NEXT
LA Tech is back in action on Tuesday, April 12 when they make the short trek to Natchitoches to face Northwestern State.  First serve is set for 2:30 p.m.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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