*NOTE: ORU was retroactively awarded a victory on March 18, 2013 after it was determined that Nicholls used an ineligible player*
CONWAY, Ark. - Oral Roberts University fell to Nicholls State in their 2013 Southland Conference opener, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops ORU to 1-4 (0-1 SLC) on the season.
Nicholls (4-2, 1-0 SLC) won the doubles point by taking two of the three matches. Parija Maloo and Natalia Cardiff knocked off ORU’s Haley Martin and Tori Dollar in the top flight, 8-4, while Marizanne Bouwer and Rachel Scroggs evened things up with an 8-4 win over Marie Aubert and Isla Brock in the second flight.
The Colonels broke the tie with a win in the third flight, as Rachel Howie and Catherine Gauthier dropped Natalia Dollar and Brittany Smith, 8-1.
While the top four singles flights were all three-set affairs, Nicholls earned the victory by taking wins on three of the four courts. Maloo knocked off Martin in the top flight, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, and Cardiff beat Bouwer on court two, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
In the third flight, Aubert felled Tori Dollar, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, and ORU earned their lone singles win on the fourth court, were Natalia Dollar beat Howie, 6-4, 1-6, 13-11.
The Colonels finished the day with wins in the final two singles matches. Brock beat Scroggs in the fifth flight, 6-2, 6-0, and Emma Pitre topped Smith in the sixth flight, 6-4, 6-1.
ORU gets back on the courts on March 2, when they host South Alabama.
