NEW ORLEANS – Northwestern State nearly snatched the doubles point from Tulane on Saturday, but the Green Wave surged in singles to hand the Lady Demons a 4-0 loss.
NSU’s pairing of Mariella Minetti and Tjasa Klevisar edged Tulane’s Makenzie Clark and Kristen Borland 6-4 to even the doubles at one each.
But NSU’s Gig Kanaphuet and Ayu Ishibashi couldn’t complete the doubles comeback, falling 6-4 to Adelaide Lavery and Brooke Theis.
“We did a good job today in doubles because we played on our terms and was aggressive,” said NSU coach Jonas Brobeck. “We were brave in important moments, but like the TCU match, we missed one point here and one point there that decided it.
“In singles, we came out a little flat and played too much off of our back foot. We allowed Tulane to dictate a little too much, and that’s tough when you’re playing good Tulane players who know what they need to do to be successful. But we’ll learn from this experience and take it with us next week into some home matches.”
Tulane rolled to six first-set wins in singles before three Green Wave players sealed the result with singles victories.
Minetti challenged Lavery in the No. 3 slot with a 7-5, first-set loss, and the pair was tied 1-1 when the match was decided.
Tulane’s Clark bested Rozalie Dohnalova (6-1, 6-3) in the top spot, Jiayun Zhu topped Viktorie Wojcikova in the No. 5 slot (6-0, 6-2) and Charlotte Russell took care of Kanaphuet in the No. 6 hole (6-0, 6-3).
The other unfinished singles match was in the No. 4 position as Ishibashi dropped the first set 6-4 to Borland, and they didn’t start the second set.
After three matches on the road to start the season, NSU returns home for an eight-match homestand. That includes consecutive doubleheaders this coming weekend, hosting Loyola-New Orleans on Saturday and LSU-Alexandria on Sunday.
PHOTO: Chris Reich/NSU Photographic Services
