University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Sunday, January 28
Lafayette
Noon

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

4
vs
3

Southeastern Louisiana

Louisiana Women's Tennis against LSU-A Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 in Lafayette, La.  Photo by Brad Kemp/RaginCajuns.com

Cajuns Sweep SLU And LSUA In Season Opening Doubleheader

1/28/2018 6:41:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Louisiana took down Southeastern Louisiana, with a clinching win at No. 6 before sweeping LSUA, ranked No. 9 in NAIA.

LAFAYETTE – Thanks to clinching wins in singles from sophomore Marina Rodriguez Garcia and freshman Floriane Picaut, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's tennis team swept their home opening doubleheader, beating Southeastern Louisiana, 4-3 and LSU Alexandria, 4-0 on a windy and overcast day at Cajun Courts.
           
Garcia clinched the match against SLU at No. 6 in a three-set battle, and Picaut clinched the match against LSUA in a straight set win at No. 2 singles.  When factoring in Picaut's win at doubles, against LSUA, with fellow freshman Dana Radovanovic, Picaut finished the first day of her spring collegiate career going 3-0.

VS. SLU
HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles): The first Cajuns duo to fall in doubles was at No. 2 when the pairing of senior Abby Johnson and freshman Morgan Forshag, lost to the SLU duo of de Veer/Holtkamp, 6-4.  It gave the Lions an advantage in the doubles, but the two remaining matches were close and meant that the doubles point would come down to the wire.
           
Unfortunately for the Cajuns the next match fell to the Lions, when at No. 3 the SLU pair of Cornejo/Raygadas came back to beat the Louisiana pairing of senior Kelly Drew and Garcia, 7-5.  The win at No. 3 gave SLU the doubles point, and it meant they carried a 1-0 lead into singles play.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles): Louisiana quickly tied the score up at No. 3 when Picaut easily dispatched SLU's Jiva de Veer in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 and with that win the score was 1-1.  At No. 2 the Cajuns wrestled away the lead from SLU when freshman Dana Radovanovic took care of Fleur Holtkamp in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.  The first set was a breeze for Radovanovic, but in the second set Holtkamp put up a fight and at one point the score sat at 3-3.  From there Radovanovic turned on the juice and won the next three games to take the set and the match to put the score at 2-1 for Louisiana.
           
The biggest win of the match came at No. 1 in the form of a Drew comeback, when she stormed back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to take her match against SLU's Ceci Mercier in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.  With her back against the wall Drew ripped off four straight wins to take the flip the script on Mercier and put herself in front, 5-4.  Mercier tied things up at 5-5, but Drew finished what she started taking the next two games to complete the first set comeback.        
           
In the second set things weren't ever in doubt, as the now confident Drew cruised through the set, taking the first four games before dropping one, and when it was over she had the straight set win and the Cajuns went up 3-1.
           
The final three matches all entered the third set with the Cajuns leading 3-1.  But at No. 5 SLU got one back when Dany Raygadas came back against Louisiana's Johnson in a three-set battle and Raygadas' 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win put the match score at 3-2.
           
At No. 4 Louisiana senior Elena Sava put up a big fight, pushing her match against Ximena Yanez to three-sets but Yanez won the third set to take the match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.  Sava came back strong in the second set to force the third set, winning the final three games to win the second set.  But in the third set Yanez controlled things and she won the match to put the tie the overall match score at 3-3.
           
The match then came down to the three-set marathon at No. 6, where Louisiana's Garcia stayed strong in the third set to win her match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to clinch things for the Cajuns.  After taking her first set, Garcia dropped the second set to push the match to a third and deciding set. 
           
In that set Garcia bounced back strong to make sure the Cajuns came away with the win, and she finished things off for Louisiana with a fist pump and as her teammates swarmed her the final score wrapped up at 4-3 for the Cajuns and it gave them their first win of 2018.

VS. LSUA
HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles): Louisiana started things off with a quick 6-0 win at No. 2, when the Cajuns pairing of Johnson/Forshag blew past the LSUA duo of Brink/Milojevic.  That was followed up by another quick win for the Cajuns at No. 3 when Drew and Garcia took down LSUA's pair of Cabezas/Perez, 6-3, to clinch the doubles point for the Cajuns.
           
The final doubles match was at No. 1 and it was played to its conclusion.  In that match the Cajuns duo of Picaut and Radovanovic made sure to give the Cajuns a clean sweep, and it took a tiebreaker to achieve that.  Down 4-1 to the LSUA pair of Perny/Charles in the breaker the Cajuns freshmen duo came storming back winning six of the next seven points to win the breaker and the match 7-6 (7-5).
           
Louisiana entered singles play up 1-0 in the match's overall score.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles): It didn't take long for the Cajuns to get another point, when at No. 6 Forshag handled LSUA's Maria Montenegro in straight sets, without dropping a game, to win 6-0, 6-0 and give the Cajuns a 2-0 lead in the match.  Garica was next to get in the win column for the Cajuns when she picked up her second win of the day at No. 5, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, against LSUA's Claudia Brink.  The win put the Cajuns one match away from clinching the sweep, with the score sitting at 3-0.
           
Louisiana clinched the match at No. 2, when Picaut won her second singles match of the day with a straight set win, 6-1, 6-2, against LSUA's Ariadna Cabezas.  Picaut controlled the match from start to finish, and when she scored the clinching point she followed it up with a fist pump as the Cajuns won the overall match 4-0.

UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 31 with another doubleheader when Southern and Northwestern State visit Cajun Courts.  The match against Southern will start at 10 a.m., with the Northwestern State match scheduled to have first serve at 3:30 p.m.

FOLLOWING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS: Follow the Cajuns on twitter @RaginCajunsWT for updates during the matches, links to live stats, live streams and the recap from the matches.

January 28, 2018 at Lafayette, La. (Cajun Courts)
Louisiana 4, Southeastern La. 3
Doubles:
1.) Picaut/Radovanovic (LA) vs. Dahlmans/Yanez (SLU) DNF
2.) de Veer/Holtkamp (SLU) def. Forshag/Johnson (LA) 6-4
3.) Cornejo/Raygadas (SLU) def. Drew/Garcia (LA) 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 3*
 
Singles:
1.) Kelly Drew (LA) def. Ceci Mercier (SLU) 7-5, 6-1
2.) Dana Radovanovic (LA) def. Fleur Holtkamp (SLU) 6-2, 6-3
3.) Floriane Picaut (LA) def. Jiva de Veer 6-1, 6-2
4.) Ximena Yanez (SLU) def. Elena Sava (LA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
5.) Dany Raygadas (SLU) def. Abby Johnson (LA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
6.) Marina Rodriguez Garcia (LA) def. Dalina Dahlmans (SLU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1, 5, 4, 6*
 
Records:
Louisiana: 1-0
Southeastern La.: 0-1
 
 
Louisiana 4, LSU Alexandria 0
Doubles:
1.) Picaut/Radovanovic (LA) def. Perny/Charles (LSUA) 7-6(5)
2.) Forshag/Johnson (LA) def. Brink/Milojevic (LSUA) 6-0
3.) Drew/Garcia (LA) def. Cabezas/Perez (LSUA) 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3*, 1
 
Singles:
1.) Kelly Drew (LA) vs. Alba Perny (LSUA) DNF
2.) Floriane Picaut (LA) def. Miljana Milojevic (LSUA) 6-1, 6-2
3.) Dana Radovanovic (LA) vs. Laia Charles (LSUA) DNF
4.) Abby Johnson (LA) vs. Ariadna Cabezas (LSUA) DNF
5.) Marina Rodriguez Garcia (LA) def. Claudia Brink (LSUA) 6-1, 6-2
6.) Morgan Forshag (LA) def. Maria Montenegro (LSUA) 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 5, 2*
 
Records:
Louisiana: 2-0
LSUA: Exhibition match for LSUA
#GEAUXCAJUNS
 
 
 
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