DENTON, Texas – On an overcast Saturday with cold, gusty winds at the Waranch Tennis Complex, Louisiana Tech came up short in the semifinals of the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship, falling 4-0 to top-seeded FIU.
 
No. 4-seeded LA Tech (20-6) had been playing some its best doubles of the season, and that showed against the 38th-ranked team in the country in FIU (17-4) who had two tandems nationally ranked.
 
The duo of Olga Bienzobas and Alexia Romero got down 0-3 early to 75th-ranked Yasmine Kabbaj/Oyinlomo Quandre on court two.  But, the Lady Techsters fought back to ultimately win in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (3). 
 
With the Panthers taking court three, the opening point came down to court one where Ana Rodrigues and Najah Dawson were battling the 79th-ranked duo of Kamila Umarova and Ekaterina Khairutdinova.  The LA Tech tandem fought back from down 4-5 to go up 6-5, but FIU ended up winning in a tiebreaker, 6-7 (4). 
 
Singles proved to be a challenge as LA Tech got down a set on all six courts.  However, the squad kept battling.  At the time when the Panthers clinched the match with straight-set victories on courts three, five and six, Bienzobas and Leonie Schuknecht were about to split sets on courts one and two.
 
After dropping the first set, 1-6, Bienzobas was up 6-5 in the second versus Khairutdinova.  Schuknecht's match played out similarly, getting down 1-6 but had three set points lined up at 5-4 before the match was stopped.  
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amanda Stone
 
"We had a great run and a great season.  We had a huge tiebreaker win at No. 2 doubles and were points away from another at No. 1.  If we could have swung the doubles, it would have been a huge momentum edge in the match.  I could not have asked for more heart or fight from our team.  They stayed true to who we have been all year and fought to the very end."
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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