Wally Pendergrass
Staff Writer
The Troy women’s tennis team lost a tight match to North Florida on Thursday, Feb. 20, but came away with an upset victory over No. 72 ranked Nicholls State 4-1 on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The Trojans lost the doubles point early against North Florida but rallied to take a 2-1 lead thanks to singles wins from sophomores Tranq Huynh and Anja Cosovic.
After North Florida (3-0) tied the match at 2, the Trojans would lose two tightly contested matches and eventually lose the final match to get the final score of 5-2.
The Trojans started off the Nicholls State matches right by winning the doubles point thanks to Cosovic and Huynh winning 8-2 in doubles match No. 1.
That win makes the doubles pair 4-2 on the year.
Senior Lyubov Dorofeeva and sophomore Brooke Durden took doubles match No. 3, 8-3 to clinch the doubles point. Huynh and Dorofeeva put the Trojans up 3-0 with wins in their singles matches.
Nicholls State would take the next match, but Cosovic clinched the win by winning singles match No. 4 and gave the Trojans a huge road win. The loss moved Nichols State to 2-3.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls today,” said coach Rawia Elsisi. “They fought so hard as a group to win this match for Troy. They played as one team and this is a great win for them against a ranked team.”
With those two results, the women’s team moves to 3-5 and hosts Kennesaw State on Friday, Feb. 28 and Arkansas State on Sunday, March 2, in Troy.
The men’s team lost a tightly contested match at Nicholls State on Saturday. The Trojans (1-6) lost 4-3 despite sophomore Gabriel Sciacca Dias getting an impressive victory over the No. 69 ranked ITA national singles athlete Nico Mertens.
Dias won in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (3), giving Troy a 3-2 lead at the time. Nicholls State (4-3) would take the last two singles matches to come away with the narrow victory.
Both teams were scheduled to take on New Orleans on Sunday, Feb. 23, but the matches were called due to rain.
Neither match will be made up. The men’s tennis team will hit the road to Hattiesburg, Miss., play Southern Miss on Friday, Feb. 28, and Lamar on Saturday, March 1.
