TULSA, Okla. – The Louisiana Tech Tennis team had an impressive showing in its first fall tournament, defeating Arkansas and Northern Arizona in singles at the three-day Tulsa Invitational from the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
 
With the entire roster returning from an 18-win season, LA Tech ramped up its strength of schedule by opening the fall against SEC for Arkansas who finished No. 34 in the country last season, host Tulsa who finished ranked No. 46 in the nation last season, and Northern Arizona who has won three straight Big Sky Conference titles.
 
And LA Tech proved they belonged on the courts.
 
Day one was a series of near upsets as the Lady Techsters went winless against Arkansas in doubles and Tulsa in singles.
 
However, the upsets started to happen one after the other on day two.  First in doubles, Leonie Schuknecht and Najah Dawson collected their first ever doubles victory together, defeating the pairing of Elinor Beazley and Laura Duhl of Northern Arizona 6-3.
 
A rain shower then forced the matches indoors where the victories started to pile up against the Razorbacks in singles.  First, Schuknecht picked up arguably the biggest win of her collegiate career with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Lenka Stara at No. 1. 
 
Court neighbor Olga Bienzobas grinded out an upset win of her own, outlasting Grace O'Donnell by a final score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 2.  The Lady Techsters were not done as Ilana Tetruashvili downed Morgan McCarthy 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 and Alexia Romero dominated Whitney Robbins 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6.
 

Leonie and Olga with singles wins at No. 1 and No. 2 over the Razorbacks 😤 pic.twitter.com/96u0JrX7nm

— LA Tech Tennis 🎾 (@LATechTennis) September 24, 2022

 
LA Tech continued to shine in singles on day three against the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona.  The biggest win as at the top spot by demolishing Sofia Markova 6-1, 6-1, ending the NAU player's 13-match winning streak.
 
Bienzobas notched her second straight singles victory as well with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over Beazley.  Najah Dawson and Tiffani Nash both ended the invitational with straight-set wins of 6-1, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-2, respectively.  The final win came from Romero, her second of the tournament, by way of 6-2, 7-6 against Patryjca Niewiadomska.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amanda Stone
 
"This was one of the best opening weekends we have ever had.  We were consistent all three days against very high-level competition.  We learned a lot about the way we need to compete against teams of this caliber.  We showed some good promise in doubles and I think once we get these new partners comfortable, we will be very tough on all lines."
 
"I was extremely happy with singles.  We won the ones we expected to and then came up with some of the best wins in the program against Arkansas.  We need to keep proving it on the court, but this weekend was a great step toward where we want to be."
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech went 4-1 against Arkansas in singles and 5-2 against Northern Arizona in singles (both Arkansas and NAU played in the NCAA Tournament last season)
• It marked the first time since 2017 that a LA Tech player defeated an SEC opponent
• Leonie Schuknecht and Najah Dawson won their first ever doubles match as a duo
• Leonie Schuknecht, Olga Bienzobas, and Alexia Romero each went 2-1 in singles
• Leonie Schuknecht ended Sofia Markova's 13-game singles winning streak
• Alexia Romero collected her 50th career singles victory (fall and spring combined)

UP NEXT
LA Tech will return to the courts next weekend when they travel to Conway, Arkansas to take part in the UCA Fall Invitational.  The two-day event starts on Friday, Sept. 30.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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