Sara Loncarevic Notches 100th Career Victory, Racers Fall to Louisiana Tech

Monday, March 8

Murray, Ky.

10 A.M.

Murray State

Louisiana Tech

Photo by: Dan Hasko - Murray State Athletics

Sara Loncarevic Notches 100th Career Victory, Racers Fall to Louisiana Tech

3/8/2021 2:10:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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Racers fall to La Tech 5-2 in home match at Bennie Purcell Tennis Courts

Murray State women's tennis continued the 2021 campaign with a home match against Louisiana Tech on Monday. The Racers (2-6) battled until the final point, but came up short – falling to the Bulldogs by a score of 5-2.

While the duo of Sara Loncarevic and Marit Kreugel rolled to a 6-4 victory at #3 doubles, the Racers conceded the doubles point with defeats at the #1 and #2 positions.

"I think the doubles were crucial. I hate to use it as an excuse, but we knew we had to play with one of our players not at 100%, and it changed the dynamic of the match completely. If we had our normal lineup, I feel like we could've won the doubles point. Even so, we had our chances when we had leads, but couldn't close out games and you can't do that in doubles. It's too short to rely on second chances," said MSU head coach Jorge Caetano.

In singles, the Racers saw a pair of fantastic performances from Sara Loncarevic and Sarah Bureau at the #1 and #3 positions, as they cruised to 7-5, 7-5, and 6-2, 6-2 straight-set victories respectively.

"Sara (Loncarevic) was huge for us. I was really happy for her because she's been competing at the #1 and #2, and she's been so close to beating some players recently. She had been struggling to finish matches and today, even though it was a close match, she found a way to get it done which is awesome. She needs to go through those types of matches in order to get better, and it really shows how she's improved over the years."

For Sara Loncrevic and Bureau, today's victories in singles brought their season totals to a team-best five wins apiece in singles competition.

Sara Loncarevic also achieved a significant career milestone on Monday, as she surpassed 100 career combined victories across singles and doubles play. The fifth-year senior now has 58 singles wins and 43 doubles wins to put her career win total at 101 matches.

"I think the biggest take away from today is that we really rediscovered our identity. We're a team that fights for every point, and I think the adversity we faced really brought out the fight in us - and I think that's something that we had been missing when things got tough. Today was the opposite. We were one player down, but we still gave ourselves a chance to win. We fell short, but I'm proud of this team," concluded Caetano.

The Racers will be back in action for two more home matches on the weekend, featuring a Saturday match with Lipscomb, and a Sunday clash with Western Kentucky.