Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5, Central Arkansas 2
DALLAS, Texas - The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi women's tennis team opened Southland Conference play with a 5-2 victory over Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon. The two teams agreed to meet at a neutral site in Dallas for the league opener.
The Islanders improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in Southland play with the win over the Bears. UCA moved to 1-2 on the season, and is now 0-1 in league play.
Before the match, the two teams agreed to play singles first, with Doris Kuselj and Sandra Burges leading the way for the Islanders. Kuselj won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles while Burges also played to a 6-1, 6-1 final at No. 4 singles to put their team up 2-0.
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and UCA split a pair of 6-3, 6-2 match, with Chelsea Horan winning at No. 5 singles, and Mia Matuszak falling by the same score at the No. 6 position.
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UT Arlington 7, Central Arkansas 0
UT Arlington 8, Central Oklahoma 2
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington women won two matches in convincing fashion on a busy Saturday at the UTA Tennis Center.
The Mavericks opened up their Southland Conference season with a 7-0 sweep of the University of Central Arkansas in the morning before besting the University of Central Oklahoma 8-2.
UTA No. 1 singles player Maria Martinez-Romero won both of her matches in straight sets. She was also perfect in doubles playing with Nikola Matovicova.
No. 2 singles Natalia Mayuk, No. 3 Giada D'ortona, No. 4 Verena Scott and No. 5 Matovicova were also undefeated in their respective two matches. Mayuk and Giada D'ortona also won their two doubles matches.
"It was a good day of tennis for us," UT Arlington coach Diego Benitez said. "UCA was our first conference match, and I thought we competed well. Playing a doubleheader is always hard for the players, but I feel we accomplish a lot. We needed plenty of match time and we got that."
The No. 73-ranked Mavericks are headed to Tulsa for matches against Kansas State on Saturday and Tulsa on Sunday.
"We have to work hard this week and be ready for our trip to Tulsa with the mentality of keep improving our national ranking," Benitez said.
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Sam Houston State
Sam Houston State 7, Hardin-Simmons 0
Sam Houston State 7, Prairie View A&M 0
Abilene Christian 6, Sam Houston State 1
ABILENE, Texas - The Bearkats swept through singles and doubles competition undefeated as the Sam Houston women's tennis team opened their 2012 dual match schedule with a 7-0 victory over Hardin-Simmons at Abilene Saturday afternoon.
Imke Jagau led the Kats with a 6-0 7-5 victory over Lauren Jay in the number one singles position. The rest of the team dropped only four games in 10 singles sets for wins at the number two through six singles.
Nadia Dubyanskaya and Tatyana Postnikova paired for an 8-4 victory at number one doubles. Sheridan Currie and Natalie Petaia played number two doubles and Jagau and Kayla Stevenson joined up at number three, both blanking their foes 8-0.
"Everyone was excited to get the season started and we saw a lot of good things on the court today," Sam Houston head coach Jim Giachino said. "Conditions with the wind were a little rough in the afternoon match, but the girls handled it well."
The Bearkats also defeated Prairie View A&M 7-0 on Saturday before Abilene Christian handed the Bearkats their first loss of the season Sunday afternoon in a 6-1 battle. Kayla Stevenson provided SHSU with its only point, winning at number six singles over Madelyn Walker.
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Northwestern State
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Senior Olga Bazhanova fought off a second-set match point at No. 1 against 2011 Fall ITA Southern Regional semifinalist Ekaterina Iakovleva Sunday and posted a thrilling 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory to cap a string of four straight Northwestern State singles triumphs as the new-look Lady Demons rallied for a 4-3 victory at Mississippi State.
It was the season opener for the NSU women, who lost highly-accomplished standouts Bianca Schulz, Kathrin Lange, Adna Curukovic and Martina Rubesova to graduation after last season.
Sunday, freshmen Tatiana Larina, Polina Konop and Amy Williams captured the 3, 4 and 5 singles matches to fuel the comeback after State, which opened Saturday with a win over Louisiana-Lafayette, picked up a hard-fought doubles point and was on the verge of closing out the match after claiming straight set victories at Nos. 2 and 6 singles.
"It was a great team effort after losing a very difficult doubles point," said interim coach Patric DuBois. "We forgot about doubles and went into singles play very determined. We asked them who would win their singles match, and each one of our girls said she would. I told them we'd be pleased with four wins and that's what we got. My hat's off to them."
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Texas State 7, Grambling State 0
RUSTON, La. - The Texas State women's tennis team evened its record to 1-1 this season with a 7-0 victory at Grambling State on Saturday afternoon.
The match began with the Bobcats winning all three doubles matches. In the No. 1 match, Jessica Kahts and Melissa Hadad defeated Laura Rodriguez and Gina Stephenson by a score of 8-2. Rachel Baldree and Francesca Bernes also won the No. 2 match over Tee Kassin and Alicia Shaw by a score of 8-3. Bérénice Van den Bergh and Mariana Perez combined to shut out Tabitha Nankya and Char Wetherill 8-0 in the No. 3 doubles match.
Texas State also won all six singles matches in the match as Kahts shut out Rodriguez 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 1 match. In the No. 2 match, Hadad defeated Stephenson 6-0, 7-5. Baldree won the No. 3 match over Shaw by a score of 6-3, 6-0.
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UTSA
UTSA 6, Midwestern State 0
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The UTSA women's tennis team raced to a 6-1 victory over Laredo Community College on Saturday afternoon at the UTSA Tennis Center.
UTSA (2-0) took control early following a sweep of the doubles session for the second straight match.
Senior Micaela Silva and junior Vivian Carrillo netted an 8-1 victory at the No. 2 spot, while juniors Natalie Hand and Kavya Menon also dispatched of their opponents at the No. 3 position, 8-1.
Senior Stefanie Peana and sophomore Isabelle Jonsson wrapped up the doubles sweep with an 8-6 win over Barbora Bozkova and Jennifer Bettancourt at the top spot.
UTSA 6, Laredo Community College 1
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The UTSA women's tennis team raced to a 6-1 victory over Laredo Community College on Saturday afternoon at the UTSA Tennis Center.
UTSA (2-0) took control early following a sweep of the doubles session for the second straight match.
Senior Micaela Silva and junior Vivian Carrillo netted an 8-1 victory at the No. 2 spot, while juniors Natalie Hand and Kavya Menon also dispatched of their opponents at the No. 3 position, 8-1.
Senior Stefanie Peana and sophomore Isabelle Jonsson wrapped up the doubles sweep with an 8-6 win over Barbora Bozkova and Jennifer Bettancourt at the top spot.
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McNeese State
Houston 7, McNeese St ate 0
Rice 7, McNeese State 0
HOUSTON, Texas-- After falling 7-0 to Houston on Friday, the McNeese State's women's tennis match on Saturday at Rice had to be moved to an indoor facility. The facility change didn't help the Cowgirls as they also dropped that match in straight sets 7-0 to fall to 0-4 on the year. McNeese will Abilene Christian in a doubleheader this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at the Nancy Hanks Courts on campus.
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