Women's Tennis To Host Louisiana-Lafayette On Saturday
Apr 8, 2011 | Women's Tennis
April 8, 2011
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's tennis team returns to action on Saturday, April 9, when the Green Wave play host to Louisiana-Lafayette at the Goldring Tennis Center. First serve for that match is slated for 1 p.m. and admission is free.
The Green Wave enter the weekend 8-10 on the year, and looking to snap a two-match skid after dropping 5-2 decisions to Wichita State and Rice on March 26-27, respectively, in Houston. Since then, Tulane has taken some time to rest and heal up and will look to build its resume to get a good seed in the upcoming Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship, which will be played from April 21-24 in Orlando, Fla.
"We've had a couple of weeks off to kind of rest our bodies and really start preparation for the last three home matches and the conference tournament," Tulane head women's tennis coach Terri Sisk said. "The first few days after Houston were a nice break for us because we had played a nice bit of tennis the previous four weeks.
"We took some time off, regrouped and came out really strong this past Monday. The girls look good, they look fit and they are ready to go. We nursed a lot of the injuries that we had and we're looking to play really well tomorrow."
As a team, Tulane is 118-85 in singles action and 53-43 in doubles play, including marks of 60-47 and 21-26 in singles and doubles during dual-match action, respectively. Sophomore Emma Levy leads the team with a 20-12 overall records and also sports a team-best 12-6 mark so far during the spring. Junior Mariam Kurdadze is next for the Wave with a 19-13 overall singles mark and an 11-7 showing in dual-match competition, and the Tulane pair are two of six players to feature double-digit singles wins on the year as junior Lindsay Dvorak is 16-11, sophomore Hila Elster is 17-12 and while Elizabeth Hamlin and Emma Helistén have 10 victories each.
In doubles play, the tandem of Kurdadze and Levy led the Wave with an 18-12 overall mark and are tied for the team lead with seven dual-match wins. Elster and Hamlin, meanwhile, are 14-9 overall, including a team-best 7-5 mark.
"You definitely want to play well, but you also want to win," Sisk said of her team heading into its stretch run. "These last three home matches are big for a couple of reasons - building momentum going into the tournament and also for confidence. When you're playing with a lot of confidence, you're very dangerous."
UL-Lafayette, meanwhile, comes to town 9-6 on the year, and like Tulane, the Cajuns are looking to snap back from a two-match skid. The Louisiana-Lafayette team had won five straight contests from Feb. 27 - March 16 but Akron handed the Cajuns a 5-2 defeat on March 19 and Lamar did so in 6-1 fashion on March 26.
As a team, the Rajin` Cajuns are 80-62 in singles action and 33-27 in doubles play for the year while sporting a 48-42 singles mark and a 20-19 doubles record during the spring season. Julie Mazinova leads UL-Lafayette with a 20-7 singles record, including an 11-4 mark in dual-match play, while Audrey Wooland is next with a 15-11 overall showing.
The tandem of Mazinova and Wooland lead the Cajuns doubles teams with a 13-7 record and are 5-2 at the top of the UL-Lafayette lineup.Milou Israel and Briggitt Marcovich are next for the Rajin` Cajuns with a 7-6 overall doubles record and a 5-3 showing in dual-match action.
"They've had an up-and-down year just like we have," Sisk said of UL-Lafayette. "At this point in our season, we can't take anyone for granted. They've had a couple of losses to some people we've beaten, but there is so much parity in women's tennis. We've got to come out physically and mentally ready for this team because they're going to come in and definitely want to beat us."
Following Saturday's match against the Ragin` Cajuns, the Green Wave continue their three-game homestand to close out the 2010-11 regular season on April 14 against Southern Miss before closing things out on April 17 against South Alabama.
Players Mentioned
