HAMMOND, La. Putri Insani, Gabrielle Dekkers, Kate Oborina and Flory Bierma all had singles victories to secure a hard-fought 4-3 win for the Southeastern Louisiana University women’s tennis team at NJIT Saturday afternoon at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
SLU improved to 6-5 overall with the win and bounced back after dropping the double. NJIT, an affiliated Southland Conference member, fell to 6-6 overall.
“I can’t say enough about the heart of this team,” said Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes. NJIT is a really good team and we could just keep fighting.
Doubles was all NJIT. The Highlanders won on the top two double lanes to take a 1-0 lead.
An injury sustained in the doubles round forced NJIT to pull Shivani Ingle from the singles lineup. As a result, Bierma got a standard win over No. 6 to tie the game at 1-1.
NJIT retook the lead with an outright win on court 5. SLU answered at right back, as Dekkers (6-2) won her fifth game in a row, beating Laura Wipfli 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2.
SLU took the first lead as Oborina shrugged off a tough first set for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Irene Cocero in the No. 4 singles title. NJIT tied it back at number 3, as Shalom Salvi fielded SLU’s Carla Del Barrio, 6-3, 5-7, 6-0.
It all came down to the feature singles court. Insani (8-1) and NJIT’s Sandra Dzhambazov shared a pair of tiebreaks in the first two sets. The Lion senior from Jakarta, Indonesia took over in the third set and took the SLU victory with a 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 win.
Southeastern will officially open Southland Conference play Friday, when it travels to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a 1 p.m. game.
Southeast 4, NJIT 3
Singles:
No. 1 Putri Insani (SLU) def. Sandra Dzhambazov (NJIT) 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-0
no. 2 Gabrielle Dekkers (SLU) def. Laura Wipfli (NJIT) 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 Shalom Salvi (NJIT) defeats. Carla DelBarrio (SLU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-0
But. 4 Kate Oborina (SLU) Defeats. Irene Cocero (NJIT) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 Defeats Paula Menendez Alvarez (NJIT). Alba Perez (SLU) 6-2, 6-0
Now. 6 Flory Bierma (SLU) won by forfeit
Doubles:
No. 1 Cocero/Shivani Ingle (NJIT) def. Bierma/Insani (SLU) 6-4
No. 2 Dzhambazov/Wipfli (NJIT) def. Dekkers/Del Barrio (SLU) 6-2
But. 3 Oborina/Perez (SLU) vs. Menendez Alvarez/Salvi (NJIT) unfinished
40 LOVE CLUB
All membership fees and donations to both the 40 Love Club and S Club (tennis) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern tennis program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at [email protected] or (985) 549-5091 or by visiting www.lionup.com.
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