DELAND, Fla. – Louisiana Tech closed outs its trip to Florida in a big way, defeating reigning Atlantic Sun champion Stetson by a final score of 5-2 on Monday morning at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.
 
After splitting back-to-back tough matches against USF and Toledo, LA Tech (9-4) had a day off to recover and put together its most complete match of the road swing.
 
Leonie Schuknecht and Najah Dawson started off the winning in doubles, taking it 6-2 on court one.  Alexia Romero and Valentina Vazquez then got the second win to claim the opening point, tallying a 6-4 victory on court three with Romero crushing an overhead slam that cleared the fence on match point.
 
Dawson helped give the Lady Techsters their second point, quickly defeating Anais Gabriel 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 3 position.  Her doubles partner, Schuknecht, provided the third point after downing Nadejda Maslova 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 for her 10th singles victory of the spring.
 
After the Hatters, who went to the NCAA Tournament last season and finished ranked 60th in the country, picked up their first point with a straight-sets victory on court four, Ilana Tetruashvili clinched the match for LA Tech with 6-4, 7-5 win over Noa Cohen at No. 5.
 
Ana Rodrigues added a fifth point for the Lady Techsters, finishing off her Florida trip with a perfect 3-0 singles record after besting Magdalena Hedrzak 7-6 (5), 7-5 at the No. 6 spot.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amanda Stone
 
"We played really good against USF. And we played hard against Toledo, but just ran out of gas. With a day off to recover, we wanted to put it all together in doubles and singles and play a complete match. I felt like we did that today.  I think we have learned throughout this season on how to show toughness and play at a high level.  Going 2-1 with the schedule we had against the quality of teams we played on this trip was excellent.  If we can keep this going and maintain this confidence, we will have a great opportunity to finish this season strong."       
 
NOTABLES

• Win the 5-2 victory, LA Tech improved to 2-0 over Stetson in the all-time series. The other win came back in 2018.
• LA Tech registered its ninth win of the spring season, the eighth straight year they have tallied at least nine victories.
• LA Tech handed Stetson its second home loss of the season (Hatters had won eight of their nine home matches).
• LA Tech won the doubles point for the eighth time this season (out of 13 matches).
• Leonie Schuknecht collected her 10th dual singles win, reaching double-digit victories for a second straight season. The junior is now 10-1 on the year and has lost only three out of 26 sets played.
• Ana Rodrigues went a perfect 3-0 in dual singles during the Florida trip, defeating USF, Toledo, and Stetson.
• Ilana Tetruashvili won her 48th career dual singles match, the sixth most in program history.
• Leonie Schuknecht and Alexia Romero each posted their 33rd career dual doubles win, two shy of cracking the top 10 list for the most in program history.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will play its sixth straight match away from home on Saturday, March 11 at Tarleton State.  First serve is set for 1 p.m.
 
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