HOUSTON – Louisiana Tech's comeback effort fell short on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs suffered a 4-3 loss to UNLV at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on the campus of Rice University.
 
After UNLV (8-3) claimed the doubles point as well as two straight-set singles wins, LA Tech (9-3) found itself down 0-3 but reeled off three straight victories to tie it up at 3-all.  It all came down to court five where Mio Kozaki's match lasted three and a half hours before falling in three sets.
 
Doubles was competitive across all three courts as all three matches were knotted up at 4-4.  The Rebels held serve on all three and then broke serve on courts one and three to win the opening point.
 
UNLV carried its momentum into singles where it registered victories at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions to get to within one point for the team win.  However, the momentum shifted in favor of LA Tech.
 
Getting the Bulldogs into the win column first was Ana Rodrigues.  Up 6-4, 5-4, the senior recorded an ace on her second serve to get to match point.  Another strong second serve sealed the 6-4, 6-4 victory over Cindy Hu at the top spot.
 
Her court neighbor Zoie Epps provided the second point.  After winning the first set 7-5, the sophomore broke to go up 5-4 when Veronica Kliuch double faulted on the deciding deuce point.  Epps then served it out to win her 11th match of the season by a final score of 7-5, 6-4 at No. 2.
 
Evening the team match at 3-all was Alice Brook.  The freshman cruised in the first set, winning it 6-0.  Her opponent, Hanna Vinahradava rebounded to force a third set that would ultimately go into a tiebreaker.  In the breaker, the freshman Brook was down 1-3 before reeling off six straight points to win the match 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (3) at the No. 6 spot.
 
The remaining court was at No. 5 between Kozaki and Kaho Oyama.  Kozaki had a deciding deuce point to try to force a first-set tiebreaker but her return went into the net.  The second set would go all the way into a tiebreaker where Oyama jumped out to a 5-1 lead.  However, Kozaki battled back, fighting off multiple match points, to win the breaker and force a third set.  With the match on serve at 2-3, Oyama win three straight games to give UNLV the win.
 
NOTABLES

• With the loss, LA Tech now trails in the all-time series with UNLV, 0-1, in what was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
• Ana Rodrigues won her fourth straight singles match.  The senior has won six of her last seven.
• Zoie Epps recorded her team-leading 11th singles victory this spring.  All 11 matches have been via straight sets.
• Alice Brook claimed her 7th-straight singles victory and is now 8-2 on the spring.  The freshman won her first three-set match of the dual season.

UP NEXT
LA Tech will face No. 59 Rice tomorrow at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.  First serve is set for 11 a.m. CT.
 
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