The Lion’s Roar / William Schmidt

The Lady Lions came back for a win in their  final pre-conference match.

After a win against Alcorn State on Apr. 5, the Lady Lions tennis team suffered an almost utter defeat against McNeese State University, only to turn it around again and celebrate a victory over Nicholls. 

The Lady Lions took on the Cowgirls at the Southeastern Tennis Complex on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. on April 9. 

In doubles, Renee Villarreal and sophomore Dalina Dahlmans were able to claim a 6-4 victory against Cowgirls Vivien Borbely and Giovanna Floretti. Sophomore Dany Raygadas and junior Margaux Kaltenbacher were able to claim the second doubles point for Southeastern with a 6-1 victory over McNeese’s Julia Kral and Charoline Erlandsson. McNeese’s Klaudia Gawlik and Anastasija Trubich took the only win against Natalie Duran and Madina Vorontnikova for doubles. 

“I thought we had a good effort in doubles,” said Head tennis Coach Jason Hayes. “We really managed to do the things we worked on and I think it turned out really well for us. We played good doubles all year. I think it is because we really emphasized what we are doing in that and making sure we apply that.”

Outside of Villarreal, the Lady Lions were dominated during the singles matches. 

“You have to give credit to McNeese,” said Hayes. “McNeese is a great program with a lot of really good girls. Today was not a good day for the Lady Lions and hopefully we will learn from this and not have a repeat of this tomorrow.”

On the No. 1 court, Villarreal was able to extend her singles win streak to a consecutive nine matches with a victory 6-2, 6-0 over Cowgirl Gawlik.

“Renee is amazing and she lost to that girl a couple of times,” said Hayes. “It is good for her to get that revenge open.” 

Villarreal gave credit for her team doing so well in doubles to being pumped up about winning. Villarreal also was glad that it was her time to win against the tough opponent Gawlik.

“She has been Southland player of the year her freshman and sophomore year,” said Villarreal. “It was nice to step up today and know that I can do it.”

Though the Lady Lions had already secured a spot in the Southland Conference, one of the goals of the final two home matches were to ensure practice in preparation for the Conference. Also, the Lady Lions tennis players wanted to show their best for two players’ final game of the regular season. 

“We [were] going to go out there, especially since it [was] my senior day, and we [hoped it was] going to be a last good game for Margo and I,” said Villarreal.

The Lady Lions did not let their loss derail them and they came back in a 6-1 victory over Nicholls State University on Apr. 10 at 1:00 p.m. on the Southeastern Tennis Complex. This was the final career match for Villarreal and Kaltenbacher who will both graduate this semester, Kaltenbacher a year early. Southeastern won with two doubles and five single matches. 

Kaltenbacher and Raygadas won their doubles against Nicholls’ Clemence Krug and Andrea Mastrippolito. And though Nicholls would even the score on No. 2, Villarreal and Dahlmans would take the victory on No. 1 against Isla Brock and Laia Charles. 

For singles, sophomore Lucia Bustamante put the Lady Lions ahead early on with a 2-0 victory, with a 6-0 and 6-2 victory against Charles. 

Villarreal continued her singles win streak moving the Lady Lions to a 3-0 lead. She was able to improve her lead to 72-9 and ranks fourth in the program’s career singles victories list.

Raygadas took a victory on the No. 3 court, Duran on the No. 6 court and Vorotnikova on the No.5. The only loss in singles for the Lady Lions took place on the No. 2 when Nicholls’ Milou Pieterz won a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Dahlmans.

The Lady Lions Tennis team will travel to the league tournament on Apr. 22 to 24 in Nacogdoches, Texas. The winner of the tournament in Texas will determine Southland Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Lions finished their regular season 14-8 overall and 6-5 in Conference play.

For more information on the Lady Lions tennis team, go to lionsports.net.