LAKE CHARLES—McNeese women's tennis opened Southland Conference play with a 6-1 win over New Orleans here Thursday to improve to 11-2 on the season and 1-0 in league play.  The 11 wins for the Cowgirls is the most wins since the 2019 season. 
 
"I'm incredibly proud of this team today," said head coach Gabby Moore. "I'm always proud, but today was a special moment. This was a great win at home in front of our fans to open conference play."
 
McNeese will remain home to host Nicholls at 2 p.m. Saturday in another SLC match.  With the loss, UNO falls to 7-5 overall and 0-2 in the SLC.
 
The Privateers opened the match by winning the doubles point for their only point of the match.  The Cowgirls swept through singles play by winning all six matches to claim the victory.
 
"Today was a true testimony of how consistency, effort, and positive energy gets results," Moore said. "We knew coming into this that UNO is a competitive team with ladies who play hard and all the way through and that we had to be fearless, determined, and mentally tough."
 
Maria Wang Martinez defeated Kate Kalistratova on Court 5, Ariane Monlleo Sanchis defeated Ksenia Reznitskaya on Court 6, and Natalia Ballo defeated Tristanne Dechoux on Court 4 in straight sets to give the Cowgirls a 3-1 lead. With the win Martinez improves to 12-1, Sanchis improves to 8-4, Ballo improves to 7-3 on the season.
 
The final three Cowgirl wins were wins after each McNeese player dropped their opening set.  Heta Nuutinen picked up the fourth Cowgirl point by defeating Laure Barendse on Court 2 in three sets to improve to 8-4. Tiana Fox improved to 8-2 with her three set win over Ana Kouchnareva on Court 3, and Emma-Lou Pommiers improved to 8-1 overall and handed Didi Bredberg her first loss of the season (8-1) with three-set match on Court 1 that included a second set tie-breaker.   
 
"Going into our first conference match after being away the last two weekends because of weather was tough, but overcoming adversity is something these girls continue to do and I'm so proud of them.  A total team effort today, these ladies played for each other and we are looking forward to building off of this for our upcoming match on Saturday."
 
SINGLES
1. Emma-Lou Pommiers (MCN) def. Didi Bredberg (UNOW) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-5
2. Heta Nuutinen (MCN) def. Laurie Barendse (UNOW) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. Tiana Fox (MCN) def. Ana Kouchnareva (UNOW) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
4. Natalia Ballo (MCN) def. Tristanne Dechoux (UNOW) 6-1, 6-4
5. Maria Wang Martinez (MCN) def. Kate Kalistratova (UNOW) 6-0, 6-2
6. Ariane Monlleo Sanchis (MCN) def. Ksenia Reznitskaya (UNOW) 6-0, 6-4
 
DOUBLES
1. Tiana Fox/Emma-Lou Pommiers (MCN) def. Tristanne Dechoux/Laurie Barendse (UNOW) 7-5
2. Didi Bredberg/Raluca Puscas (UNOW) def. Natalia Ballo/Luna Jokanovic (MCN) 7-5
3. Ana Kouchnareva/Ksenia Reznitskaya (UNOW) def. Maria Wang Martinez/Ariane Monlleo Sanchis (MCN) 6-4