Women’s Tennis: Owls dismantled 4-0 against Louisiana Tech ending their season
The Owls were overpowered by a historic Louisiana Tech season’s team on Friday.
Sophomore Millie-Mae Matthews, who leads the team with 14 singles wins, sends a forehand strike across the court.
Gasner Delvarin Jr. , Contributing Writer
April 23, 2023
On Friday, FAU women’s tennis (8-14, 0-2 C-USA) fell apart in a 4-0 loss to the top 75-ranked Louisiana Tech University Lady Techsters in the quarterfinal round of the Conference USA Championship Tournament, bringing a close to their season.
Louisiana Tech took on the courts and did quick work in the doubles, taking courts one and three in the order of finish, to clinch doubles for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Techsters did not take their feet off the pedal in the singles either. They went on cruising and claimed four games in the first set despite resistance from sophomore Millie Mae Matthews and freshman Carla Galmiche, who held on their end and won 6-4 and 7-6 (7-5) in the singles first set.
The Owls attempted to shift the momentum in the second set with senior Katerina Filip, who seemed to have found her game, leading 5-4 before the stoppage, but the Lady Techsters dominated on courts 3, 1, and 4 winning them 6-2, 6-2, and 6-1 to end the Owls’ season.
The loss marks the end of the senior pair collegiate tennis career at FAU: Martina Kudelova, who played a program-record 105 singles matches for the Owls, and Katerina Filip, in singles who contributed 33 wins in 3 years with the program.
Despite the loss, the Owls possibly had a glimpse of new emerging leaders for the future.
One of which is Matthews, who started the season on a four-game winning streak and had a productive sophomore campaign, finishing the year with a team-high 14 singles wins.
In addition, the Spaniard Sophomore Victoria Gomez O’Hayon, who joined the team this January, had a stretch of a six-game winning streak and finished the season as one of the few Owls in the double-digit win column.
After a challenging start to the season, the Owls improved their winning percentage by finding their footing in March; but tumbled to end the season and fell below .500 for the first time in nine years. They will now enter an off-season looking to build upon the highs of this past season with a more experienced group.
Gasner Delvarin Jr. is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email gdelvarinjr2017@fau.edu