TULSA, Okla. – All six Bulldogs contributed to a season-opening victory on Saturday at Louisiana Tech defeated Wyoming, 4-3, in the first match of the Hurricane Invite at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
 
While the six singles lines were split between LA Tech (1-0) and Wyoming (0-1), the decision came down to the opening doubles point, which was won by the Bulldogs in dramatic fashion for first-year head coach Amy Sargeant's first victory at the helm.
 
The Cowgirls claimed the first match of the morning, winning 6-2 on court one, but the tandem of Ana Rodrigues and Valentina Vasquez responded with a 6-4 victory on court two. 
 
The doubles point would come down to Zoie Epps and Tiffani Nash who were playing their first ever match together.  Down 3-5, the duo reeled off three straight games to take a 6-5 advantage before Wyoming forced a tiebreaker.  Epps/Nash would jump out to a 5-2 lead and ultimately take the breaker, 7-4.
 
Wyoming, the defending Mountain West Conference champion, evened things up though by claiming the first singles match at the No. 2 spot.  However, Olga Bienzobas swung the lead back in favor of the Bulldogs with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1, winning three straight games to take it in straight sets over Violetta Borodina.
 
After the Cowgirls tied things up again at 2-all with a victory on court three, Nash provided a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 win against Nikol Dobrilova on court four to make it 3-2 in favor of the 'Dogs.  The clincher came soon thereafter courtesy of Alexia Romero who took the opening set in a tiebreaker without dropping a single point, and then won six straight games in the second set to take it 7-6 (0), 6-0 versus Lucia Malinak.
 
After a marathon of a match, LA Tech rolled right into singles against host Tulsa.  The Bulldogs played neck-and-neck with the Golden Hurricanes, especially at the top of the lineup.  While Bienzobas and Vasquez dropped three setters on courts one and three, Rodrigues punched through with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory court two.
 
NOTABLES

• With the win, LA Tech tied up the all-time series with Wyoming, 3-3. The Bulldogs have now won three straight over the Cowgirls.
• Olga Bienzobas won her fourth career singles match at the No. 1 position. She is now 4-1 when playing on court one. She improves to 9-3 overall in singles for 2023-24.
• Tiffani Nash claimed her 20th career dual singles victory.
• Alexia Romero improved to 39-14 all-time in dual singles. She is now four wins away from cracking the top 10 list in program history for career singles wins.
• Freshman Zoie Epps picked up her first career win as a Bulldogs, teaming with Tiffani Nash to clinch the doubles point against Wyoming.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will close out the match with Tulsa in doubles starting at 9 a.m. Sunday.  The Bulldogs will then face Omaha at approximately 10 a.m. in a neutral site match to close out the Hurricane Invite.
 
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