NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s tennis squad showed well in its second tournament of the year, winning 15 of its 18 matches in the two-day Northwestern State Fall Invitational.
 
Lauren Dupuis claimed the No. 6 flight, while a pair of doubles tandems also claimed flight crowns. Dupuis got past Grambling State’s Tafadzwa Chiridza (7-5, 6-3) in the first match of the weekend before getting past Grambling’s Tabitha Nankya (6-2, 6-2) on Friday to reach the flight final. There, she faced Sam Houston State’s Caitlin Mitchell, getting past her in straight sets as well (6-4, 6-1) to finish off a 3-0 weekend.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns also had success on the doubles front, with Alexandra Way and Abby Johnson combining to take the No. 2 doubles flight, and Elena Sava and Juliette Clement teaming up to claim the No. 3 doubles flight.
 
Johnson/Way moved past the duo of Elfving/Stefanovic of Lamar (8-7 (9)) in the first round before advancing to the flight final with a (8-4) win over Nicholls’ Skopac/Jordan.  They then finished off the weekend with a (8-7 (4)) victory over Stephen F. Austin’s team of Maxl/Acosta on Saturday.
 
Sava/Clement opened their weekend with a (8-4) win over Grambling’s Jones/Chirdza on Friday, and followed that with two more wins on Saturday. The pair moved on to the finals with an (8-2) win over Nicholls’ Aubert/Brock and closed out the flight with a win (8-0) over Milanovic/Mitchell of Sam Houston State.
 
Johnson also turned in a good weekend in singles play, recovering from a (6-1, 6-2) loss to Marie Aubert of Nicholls in the first round to win her final two matches and take the consolation side of the No. 5 flight. She followed up her loss to Aubert with a victory (6-0, 6-0) over Shaunte Southern of Grambling and a win (6-1, 6-7 (3), 10-4) over Margaux Kaltenbacher of Southeastern Louisiana.
 
Way and Sava each showed well in their singles draws as well, with Way claiming third place in the No. 3 flight and Sava advancing to the finals of the No. 4 flight. In No. 3 singles, Way moved past Southeastern Louisiana’s Madina Vorotnikova (6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-8) on Day 1, then returned on Saturday morning where she fell (6-3, 5-7, 11-9) to Lera Terentyeva of Stephen F. Austin and then defeated Nicholls’ Katya Jordan (5-7, 6-4, 10-7) in the third-place match.
 
Sava moved past Northwestern State’s Emily Kerr (6-3, 6-1) in the first match of No. 4 singles before knocking off Southern Miss’ Katherine Waidner (7-6 (9), 7-6 (2)) to advance to Saturday’s final. There, Nicholls’ Milou Pietersz handed Sava her first loss of the weekend (6-3, 6-3).
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns will now return home to host its first tournament of the season next week, the UL Invitational, on Friday and Saturday. It will be one of the largest tournaments in the region this fall, with at least 11 teams in attendance at Cajun Courts.
 
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