The women’s tennis team faced off against Missouri State in a match last Tuesday. The match ended 4-1 to MSU, and the team reflected on their performance to prepare for upcoming conference games.
After a hard battle, SLU ultimately lost the doubles point as Leana Gomez and Bente Bierma fell short 6-4 to MSU’s Cristina Flaquer Fus and Nicole Ross on court one. On court two, Panatchakorn “Fresh” Suanarsa and Bogi Csordas fell to Missouri State’s Tuana Gunal and Juliette Robinson with the score 6-3.
Taisa “Tai” Bolsova and Alba Perez won their match 6-1 against Missouri State’s Mary Houston and Sandra Lukacova on court two.
During singles, junior Kate Oborina played an impressive match against Houston on court two, which ended with a swift 6-3, 6-2 score, adding a fourth straight-set win to her 6-1 record for the season.
On courts three and four, freshmen Bierma and Claudia Di Leonardo lost their matches to Gunal 6-4, 6-1 and Robinson 6-4, 6-2, respectively.
On court one, freshman Gomez fell to MSU’s Flaquer Fus with the final score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. This concluded the match against Missouri State and left the remaining courts’ similarly split matches unfinished, with sophomore Fresh up against Ross 6-3, 6-7, 1-1 (unfinished) and freshman Tai against Lukacova 7-6, 3-6, 3-2 (unfinished).
Tai shared how she felt about her performance.
“Even though I was tired during the second and third sets, I was running and fighting for it, so I’m really happy. I was sad that I didn’t finish, but I’m glad to see that I’m improving a lot this semester. I’m really proud,” she stated.
She continued to talk about the team’s energy and how it showed during the match.
“We’re fighting a lot, and we had a really good intensity today. In doubles, we almost won the point. We were really aggressive. As a team, we support each other and that is something that makes a good team,” she said.
Coach Jason Hayes shared his thoughts on the outcome of the match.
“Missouri State is a very good team. We knew today was going to be tough. Everything we’re trying to do now is to build. We played better today than what we played last week, and that’s what we’re trying to do–just get a little bit better each time we go on the court,” he stated.
Coach Hayes remarked on the choices the team members made during the match and his thoughts on their upcoming conference matches.
“They were doing so much better with playing smarter. Experience really does matter, and we’re going to play against some teams that have more experience. I expect to see the results in the next couple of weeks when we have bigger conference matches coming up. I think that’s going to help us so much,” he said.
He concluded by explaining each member’s commitment and equal effort to improve.
“Everybody’s fighting hard, and that’s the key. From a coach’s standpoint, what you want is for the girls to go out there and fight. You want them to believe in what they’re doing and for them to trust each other. If you’ve got that, then you’re improving. I couldn’t single one out because they’re all doing the same job, and they’re all fighting just as hard,” he stated.
The Lions will face McNeese on March 23 for their next Southland Conference match.
For all things Southeastern tennis, stay tuned to The Lion’s Roar.
