University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Thursday, March 1
Lafayette
3 p.m.

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

2
vs
4

South Alabama

Ragin' Cajuns Come Up Short Against South Alabama

3/1/2018 11:12:00 PM | Women's Tennis

LAFAYETTE – In their first matchup with a Sun Belt Conference school, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's tennis team lost only their second match at home, 4-2, to the South Alabama Jaguars, Thursday evening at Cajun Courts.
           
The loss drops the Cajuns record to 8-4, while it increases the Jaguars record to 9-1 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles): Right off the bat seniors Elena Sava and Abby Johnson kept rolling as the Cajuns No. 1 doubles grouping, winning against USA's Zolotareva and Fujioka, 6-3 to give the Cajuns a lead in doubles.
           
Senior Kelly Drew and sophomore Marina Rodriguez Garcia lost the next doubles match at No. 3 against the Jaguars' Kohoutova and Palmen, 6-4, to make the final match at No. 2 the deciding match.  At No. 2, the Cajuns freshmen pairing of Floriane Picaut and Dana Radovanovic clinched the doubles point for the Cajuns with a 6-4 win over Stiteler and Martins of USA to give the Cajuns a 1-0 lead heading into singles.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles): Unfortunately for Louisiana they couldn't carry that momentum into singles and they started things off by falling behind 2-1 by dropping the first two singles matches decided.  Sava lost at No. 3 to the Jaguars' Yu Fujioka in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0 and Radovanovic fell in straight sets at No. 4 to Maxine Palmen, 6-3, 6-2 placing the Jaguars ahead 2-1 in the overall score.
           
Louisiana tied things at when at No. 1 Drew battled through a first set tiebreaker to win her match against the nationally ranked No. 90 Alexandria Stiteler, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.  Things we pushed to the limit in the breaker, with Drew needing to win past the traditional seven points, but she carried that victory to her second set to win that and tie the overall score up at 2-2.
           
The next two matches fell the way of South Alabama, but they were both three-set battles as the Cajuns didn't lay down for the Jags.  At No. 5 Johnson, after winning the first set, couldn't hold off USA's Patricia Martins to lose in a three-set marathon, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 
           
With the score sitting at 3-2 with USA ahead, the Cajuns would lose the match at No. 2 when Picaut couldn't finish her comeback against South Alabama's Alina Zolotareva, losing in three sets 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3.  As the score shows Picaut fought through the first set only losing in the tiebreaker and she bounced back to take the second set.  But in the third set the shots just didn't fall for Picaut and her loss wrapped up the match in South Alabama's favor 4-2.

UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana stays at home for one final match at Cajun Courts, against Southern Miss. on Tuesday Mar. 6.  The match against Southern Miss. is a makeup match from last weekend since possible weather had forced the moving of that match to Mar. 6.
           
Louisiana then hits the road for a three-match road trip starting on Saturday, Mar. 10 with a visit to Prairie View, Texas where they'll face off with Oral Roberts at 10 a.m. and hosting Prairie View A&M at 3 p.m.  They'll wrap up the trip with a stop in Houston, Texas to take on Houston on Monday, Mar. 12 before returning to Cajun Courts.

FOLLOWING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS: Follow the Cajuns on twitter @RaginCajunsWT for updates during the matches, links to any live stats and a link to the recap following the day's action.

South Alabama 4, Louisiana 2
March 1, 2018 at Lafayette, La.
(Cajun Courts)
Doubles:
1.) Johnson/Sava (LA) def. Zolotareva/Fujioka (USA) 6-3
2.) Picaut/Radovanovic (LA) def. Stiteler/Martins (USA) 6-4
3.) Kohoutova/Palmen (USA) def. Drew/Garcia (LA) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2*
 
Singles:
1.) Kelly Drew (LA) def. No 90 Alexandria Stiteler (USA) 7-6(6), 6-4
2.) Alina Zolotareva (USA) def. Floriane Picaut (LA) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
3.) Yu Fujioka (USA) def. Elena Sava (LA) 7-5, 6-0
4.) Maxine Palmen (USA) def. Dana Radovanovic (LA) 6-3, 6-2
5.) Patricia Martins (USA) def. Abby Johnson (LA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
6.) Marina Rodriguez Garcia (LA) vs. Nikola Kohoutova (USA) DNF
Order of finish: 3, 4, 1, 5, 2*
 
SIDE MATCHES (RESULTS NOT AFFECTING THE DUAL MATCH):
Bustamonte (USA) def. Morgan Forshag (LA) 6-3, 6-2
 
Team Records:
Louisiana: 8-4
South Alabama: 9-1
 

#GEAUXCAJUNS
 
 
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