Nicholls women fall short in attempt to win tennis finale at home with narrow loss to Loyola

The women’s tennis team came up a bit short on Senior Day to close out the season with a win on their home court at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Nicholls and Loyola were tied 3-3 heading into the deciding match on Court 5. Nicholls’ Constanza Cruz fell to Adele Fereres in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 5-7.

While the team didn’t win on Saturday, all of the Nicholls seniors who were involved in singles play won their final matches on the home court.

Nicholls won the first of the three doubles matches but lost the final two to give the point to Loyola.

The first singles match to be decided came when Nicholls senior Lea Grinberg defeated Avrora Volkova, 6-0, 6-1.

“To be honest, I’m very happy,” said Grinberg. “I think the team energy today is very different just because we know that it’s the last home match and it just felt really good to be on court today.”

The Nicholls women went into the game having lost their previous 11 games in a row, but Grinberg said she sensed the team, particularly the seniors, were particularly attentive.

“I think I was just really focused on my game. I was trying to put as much balls in as I could and trying to make the right choices, and of course, have a big energy, and it helps,” Grinberg said.

Grinberg’s win tied the match at 1-1 and Nicholls pulled ahead with Dareen Hassan’s 6-0, 6-2 win over Isabella Leano.

“I really wanted to win today. I was injured since last semester and I was not playing this semester and I wanted to play on Senior Day to get my win and finish college happy and emotional,” said Hassan.

The day was filled with mixed emotions for the seniors, but with an even larger tug of the heart.

Like most seniors, the final game means the end of their playing career and maybe their college days. For the players at Nicholls, all of whom are international, a cultural sea change may be on the horizon.

“I’m so happy that I won today. It’s so sad to leave here. It was really a very good experience, and I liked it so much,” said Hassan, who is from Egypt.

“It was too emotional,” said senior Carla Bouygues of France. “The second set, it was hard to control my emotions and to finish the win. It was nice to finish by a win and help the team. I will miss this place so much and playing as a Colonel.”

A Nicholls mainstay, Bouygues closed out her career with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Micaela Ponce to put her team up 3-1 at that point.

“I think the girl was hitting very hard and has really good strokes, so I put shapes in all my balls. I tried to play smart and slice and to use variations a lot. It worked,” said Bourygues.

Hassan, Bouygues, Grinberg, who is also from France, along with Betija Dusele of Latvia, were all honored prior to Saturday’s play.

In the other matches, Nicholls freshman Lui QianYu fell to Lucy Carpenter, 6-1, 7-6, and Sophia Sara Safarova Safarova lost to Chloe Henderson, 6-4, 1-6, 1-6, to tie the match, leading to the dramatic finish.

The Nicholls No. 3 doubles team of Hassan and Dusele defeated Fereres and Henderson, 6-4 to get things started.

Loyola won the other two doubles events when the No. 2 doubles duo of sisters Elly Carpenter and Lucy Carpenter topped Aada Inna and Safarova, 7-6, with No. 1 twosome of Ponce and Ariana Salgueiro-Estela beating Cruz and Bouygues, 7-6.