WICHITA, Kan. – Louisiana Tech and No. 68 Wichita State battled for three hours and 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon.  In the end, the Bulldogs fell to the Shockers, 4-2, at the Coleman Tennis Complex.
 
LA Tech (14-8) narrowly dropped the doubles point to WSU (12-9).  Meanwhile, all six singles lines could have gone either way with half of them going into a third set.  The Bulldogs would get two points, but the Shockers closed it out with wins on courts two, three, and five.
 
Alexia Romero and Zoie Epps started off the winning for LA Tech, taking it 6-4 at court three.  With the Shockers taking court two, the opening point came down to court one between Olga Bienzobas/Ana Rodrigues and Jessica Anzo/Kristi Kudryav. 
 
The Bulldogs got up 3-2, but the Shockers came back to win the next three games.  Now down 3-5, Bienzobas/Rodrigues won three straight games of their own to retake the lead, 6-5.  The match would ultimately go into a tiebreaker where WSU would win it, 7-6 (4).
 
Needing four points in singles, Tiffani Nash quickly gave the Bulldogs the first one.  The senior proved too much for Anne Knuettel, winning 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 4 position.
 
That would be the only lopsided singles match.  Each team took sets in three matches, including Valentina Vasquez who claimed the first set, 6-4, in her match versus Theodora Chantava at No. 3.  Chantava would turn things around, winning sets two and three to give the Shockers a 2-1 advantage.
 
That lead grew to 3-1 with Wichita State winning in straight sets at No. 2.  The Bulldogs had a realistic chance at a comeback though, starting off with Olga Bienzobas coming back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Xin Tong Wang at the top spot.
 
Meanwhile, Alexia Romero won the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (4), to be on top against Anzo on court six.  And on court five, Epps rallied to force a third set on court five.  The freshman fought off two match points, but ended up falling 5-7, 6-2, 4-6.
 
NOTABLES

• With the loss, now trails in the all-time series versus Wichita State, 4-0.
• Olga Bienzobas improved to 19-2 in dual singles.  The 19 wins is tied for the second most in a single season in program history.  It marked the fifth time this season the senior has come back from a set down to win.
• Olga Bienzobas now has 44 career dual singles wins, tied for the 10th most in program history.
• Tiffani Nash improved to 14-5 in dual singles, breaking her single-single mark of 13 from last season.  The senior has only allowed two games or less in her last four wins.
• Alexia Romero and Zoie Epps improved to 3-0 as doubles partners, having teamed up for the last five matches (were up in the other two that went unfinished). 
• Alexia Romero won her 52nd career dual doubles match, tying the program history.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will await the seeding of the 2024 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship.  The Bulldogs are set to play on Friday, April 19 at the Pay Cargo Tennis Facility in Miami, Florida.
 
FOLLOW US
For all the latest in Bulldog Tennis, follow us on Twitter (@LATechTennis), Instagram (@LATechTennis), and Facebook (LATechTennis).