Freshman Ema Turudija showed her senior teammates how much she respects them by sealing the win at the tennis senior day on April 6 at Heard Stadium.
Turudija closed the match against Middle Tennessee State University in single’s play in three gut-checking sets, earning the team’s ninth consecutive victory.
Turudija defeated Middle Tennessee’s Nayara Moraes 6-4, 6-7 and 12-10.
“I thought it was the end after I lost the second set, especially when I was down 6-1,” said Turudija, who is undefeated in single’s play. I don’t know how I came back and won.”
At the senior day, fans tailgated across the street from the tennis courts, while other filled the stadium, rooting the Warhawks to victory.
The fans got too loud at times, forcing the court referees to threaten to take ULM points off the board for excessive noise.
“Because of them screaming for me to come on, and knowing it was [the seniors] last home match, I had to win,” Turudija said.
Turudija’s strong performance solidified ULM’s 5-2 victory and sent seniors Vivian Polak and Monica Winkel away with a lasting memory.
“Thank God I won,” Turudija said.
In their matches, Polak and Winkel won in both the single’s and double’s competition.
“I didn’t really think about it being my last home match,” Winkel said. “But, I definitely wanted to win.”
Winkel said it wasn’t until her second match that she realized it was her last home match ever.
She said she had to win it, not just for herself, but also for the team.
Polak won her single’s match in two sets with scores of 6-0 and 6-3 and moves into conference play with only three individual losses.
“It’s good we ended like this at home,” Polak said. “I could not have wished for better.”
Polak added, “It feels weird that it is over, but it’s always good to play here, because everyone is behind you cheering. I will miss it.”
The team will compete in the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships that begin on April 19-22 in Denton, Texas.