Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Top-seeded Louisiana Tech delivered a dominant performance Thursday morning, blanking No. 9 seed Sam Houston, 4-0, to advance to the semifinals of the Conference USA Women’s Tennis Championship at the Adams Tennis Complex.
LA Tech (17-3) set the tone early in doubles, earning decisive wins on courts one and three to claim the opening point. The Bulldogs carried that momentum into singles, securing straight-set victories on courts one, three, and six to complete the shutout of Sam Houston (9-13).
“I thought today we had a good start in doubles,” said head coach Amy Sargeant. “We came out very decisive and aggressive. We had good energy from start to finish. That set the tone early going into singles where we went up quick on three courts with 6-0 sets. From there, it was just a matter of closing it out. Excited about our opportunity (Friday).”
The duo of June Vigneron and Mio Kozaki struck first on court three, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and cruising to a 6-2 win. Shortly after, the 70th-ranked pair of Zoie Epps and Isabella Walker built a 3-1 advantage on court one and never looked back, matching the 6-2 result to secure the doubles point.
In singles play, LA Tech wasted no time extending its lead. The Bulldogs dominated early, posting 6-0 first-set victories on courts one, three, and six. All three matches were tested in the second set, but each Bulldog responded.
Walker was first to finish at the No. 6 position. After Isabella Garza evened the second set at 3-3, the freshman closed strong, winning three straight games to secure a 6-0, 6-3 victory and a 2-0 team lead.
Epps followed a similar path on court one. With the second set tied at 3-3, the junior took control down the stretch, winning 6-0, 6-3 over Nayuma Subba to push the advantage to 3-0.
Needing one more point to clinch, Maria Tsironi delivered at No. 3. The sophomore capped the match with a commanding 6-0, 6-2 win over Christine Jevicky, sealing the 4-0 decision.
