RUSTON – Louisiana Tech suffered its first home loss of the season, falling 4-3 to Tarleton State on a windy, overcast Friday afternoon at the LA Tech Tennis Complex.
 
In the last two seasons, the matchup between LA Tech (6-4) and Tarleton State (7-0) has gone down to the wire.  The one today was no different as the marathon match went three hours and 20 minutes.
 
The Texans were able to get on the scoreboard first with the opening doubles point, winning 6-1 on courts two and three (Olga Bienzobas and Alexia Romero provided the lone win for the Bulldogs on court one, claiming five straight games for a 6-3 victory).
 
The duo continued their winning ways in singles as well.  Bienzobas was dominant at the No. 1 position, winning 12 of the 13 games to overpower Emma Persson 6-1, 6-0 for her team-leading ninth dual singles victory of the spring.
 
In doing so, Bienzobas won her seventh straight.  As did Romero who was equally as impressive at the No. 6 spot, defeating Maretha Burger by a score of 6-2, 6-1 to put the Bulldogs in front, 2-1.
 
The Texans tied things up at 2-all with a straight-sets win on court five, but Tiffani Nash pulled LA Tech ahead again by outlasting Clara Sobius 6-2, 6-3 on court four.
 
The remaining two positions – courts two and three – went into a third set after both Ana Rodrigues and Valentina Vasquez came back to win the second sets.  However, TSU was able to pull out both wins to take the match.
 
NOTABLES

• With the loss, LA Tech now leads the all-time series over Tarleton State, 2-1.
• LA Tech fell to 3-1 at home this spring season.
• Olga Bienzobas improved to 9-1 in dual singles, extending her winning streak to seven (longest of her career).  She is now 17-4 overall this season (fall and spring).
• Alexia Romero improved to 8-1 in dual singles, extending her winning streak to seven matches.  It was her 70th career singles win (fall and spring), becoming just the third player in program history since 2010 to reach 70 wins.
• Alexia Romero won her 46th career dual singles win, the eighth most in program history.
• Tiffani Nash improved to 6-3 in dual singles this season.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 22 versus crosstown foe Grambling State.  First serve is set for Noon CT at the LA Tech Tennis Complex.
 
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