The New Orleans Privateers women’s tennis team saw their season come to an end on Tuesday after a 4-0 loss to Southeastern in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament.
The match began later than planned due to a lightning delay that pushed the start time back nearly three hours. Once play began, the doubles matches were intense and tightly contested.
Southeastern started strong with a 6-1 win at the No. 1 doubles spot. But New Orleans responded quickly. Fleur Sprengers and Nouray Khaled dominated early at No. 2 and came away with a 6-3 win, setting up a decisive match at No. 3 doubles.
There, Iris Danne and Ananya Dhankhar battled Southeastern’s Taisia Bolsova and Claudia Di Leonardo in a hard-fought match that went to a tiebreak. The Privateers had the edge twice but couldn’t hold on. The Southeastern duo came back from 5-4 down to win the tiebreak 7-5, giving their team the first point.
That energy carried into the singles matches.
Bolsova gave Southeastern a fast 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-2 win. Bente Bierma followed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, pushing the Lions to the edge of a team win.
Southeastern sealed the match when Leana Gomez won 6-2, 6-2, clinching the fourth and final point.
The remaining matches were left unfinished once the result was decided. Sprengers had taken her first set 7-5 and was early in the second. Kateryna Kalistratova won her first set 6-2, and Khaled, although down a set, was leading 3-1 in the second.
The Privateers end their season with this loss, but several individual performances showed promise for the future.
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