Women’s Tennis: March 29 Scoreboard
Southland Conference
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4, Nicholls 3
Central Arkansas 4, Sam Houston State 3
McNeese State 7, UIW 0
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4, Nicholls 3
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Junior Celia Rodriguez grinded out a 7-5 third-set win at No. 3 singles to lift the Texas A&M - Corpus Christi women's tennis team to a 4-3 victory over Nicholls (13-4, 6-1 SLC) today at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the Islanders (9-7, 3-3 SLC) battled back to win four singles matches and secure their third Southland Conference win of the season and hand Nicholls its first Southland loss of the season.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of these girls," Director of Tennis Steve Moore. "Not because they won, winning today was just a symptom. The root is their character and commitment to stay in the present, not judge themselves and keep competing each point like champions regardless of the outcome. That takes tremendous mental fortitude and to see your team do that makes you so proud as a coach. Nicholls has a tremendous team and this conference is the strongest I have ever seen. The parity is incredible.
"Today was a dogfight and every match from this point forward we expect a dogfight. A lot of respect for Nicholls for the way they fought as well. These were two teams that both deserved to win this dual match today. Goncalo and I talked about the way these girls went on the road to Louisiana and won, we knew the heart of this team."
In doubles play, junior Maider Martin and Rodriguez came up short, 8-2, to Stephanie Barnett and Klara Skopac in No. 1 doubles. The Colonels then clinched the point after Marie Aubert and Milou Pietersz topped the freshman-senior duo of Jelena Dzinic and Chelsea Horan, 8-2 at No. 2 doubles.
Nicholls then took a 2-0 lead after Barnett defeated sophomore Judit Vives 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. The Islanders then answered back with wins on courts five and four to knot the match 2-2. Sophomore Kerry Galhos won her eighth match in No. 5 singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Katia Jordan, before Martin secured her fifth straight match at No. 4 singles to improve to 12-3. The junior recorded a 6-4, 6-2 win over Milou Pietersz for the Islanders' second point of the day.
The Colonels pushed ahead after Isla Brock squeezed out a 6-1, 7-6 (5) win over Horan in No. 6 singles. With Nicholls holding a 3-2 match lead, the Islanders battled back to clinch the match. Dzinic picked up a 6-3 first-set win over Skopac in No. 2 singles, before grinding her way to a 7-5 second-set win to even the match at 3-3. Dzinic was trailing 5-3 in the second before winning four straight games to earn the victory.
The match then came down to Rodriguez and Aubert in No. 3 singles. Rodriguez garnered the first set 6-4, before dropping a 6-1 second-set loss. In the third, the two went neck-and-neck before tying at 5-5. The junior then rose up and won two consecutive games to clinch the set, 7-5. Rodriguez has now won four straight matches and holds an impressive 8-0 mark at No. 4 singles and a 9-3 overall record.
The Islanders will head back on the road for a pair of Southland matches next weekend. First up is Sam Houston State on Friday, April 3, in Huntsville, Texas, at 12 p.m., followed by a match in Beaumont, Texas, against Lamar on Saturday, April 4, at 1 p.m.
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Central Arkansas 4, Sam Houston State 3
CONWAY, Ark. – Just eleven hours after finishing a grueling eight hour marathon match against Lamar on Saturday night, the Central Arkansas women’s tennis team returned to the courts for a Southland Conference match against Sam Houston State. The Bears turned in a gutsy performance, earning a 4-3 win.
The Bears (8-4, 3-4 SLC) swept the doubled matches to secure a 1-0 lead after the first leg of the match. In the no. 1 match, Nataly Yoo and Cassidy Crawford evened their season record at 5-5 with an 8-6 win over Olivia Battye and Mila Mianovic. The no. 2 match saw Kelsey Williams and Allison Murphy improve to 10-1 on the year with an 8-2 win over Bailey Van Dyke and Karen Martinez, while in the no. 3 match Kristina Horsikyan and Bianca Strukelj moved to 8-3 on the year with a 7-5 win over Maddie Mortimore and Fabienne Gettwart.
The doubles point would prove to be key, as UCA and SHSU (0-11, 0-5 SLC) would split the singles matches. Yoo improved to 8-2 on the year, defeating Battye 6-1, 6-2 in the no. 1 match, while Horsikyan moved to 8-3 on the season with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Milanovic. Murphy gave the Bears their final point of the match, taking down Van Dyke 6-2, 6-1 to improve to 10-2 on the season. The Bearkats got a win in the no. 2 match, where Gettwart defeated Williams 6-2, 6-1. In the no. 5 match, Martinez defeated Crawford 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, and in the no. 6 match Mortimore took down Strukelj 6-3, 6-1.
“Today was about survival,” said UCA head coach Casey Wharton. “Everybody was tired and stiff from the marathon we played yesterday, and we were also a bit deflated that we played so long and hard and still somehow came up short. So we knew that coming into today it wasn’t going to be our best tennis. But it was also about finding a way to win, even if it wasn’t pretty; and that’s what we did. We found a way. Sam Houston had a team filled with girls that were very gracious, but they played really hard and they didn’t give us the win; they made us earn it. And for that I am pleased that we were able to make that happen.”
The Bears hit the road next weekend, traveling to San Antonio, Texas on Saturday to take on Incarnate Word and Belton, Texas to battle Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
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McNeese State 7, UIW 0
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The McNeese State women’s tennis team wrapped up its weekend road trip with a convincing 7-0 victory over Incarnate Word on Sunday.
With the victory, the Cowgirls improved to 9-5 overall and a 5-1 mark in Southland Conference play. McNeese stands just one victory out of first place in the league standings.
The loss dropped UIW to 2-16 on the season and 0-6 in conference action.
The match was never in doubt from the start as the Cowgirls’ doubles team’s clinched the first point of the match with a default win on Court One followed by a decisive 8-0 victory from the team of sophomore Julia Kral and freshman Hannah Brett on Court Two.
McNeese would then go on to sweep singles play. Junior Klaudia Gawlik won convincingly at the No. 1 position 6-0, 6-0 over Matea Zemunik. Kral won at the No. 2 singles slot in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 over Sarah Sevedra.
Brett and sophomore Vivien Borbely each took home victories at the No.3 (6-3, 6-4) and No. 4 (6-3, 6-4) spots respectively. Freshman Sarah Jurakova and junior Anastasija Trubich rounded out singles play winning at the No. 5 (6-1, 6-2) and No. 6 (6-0, 6-1) singles positions completing the 7-0 sweep for the Cowgirls.
McNeese will return home for mid-week conference action against Abilene Christian on Thursday, April 2 at 2 p.m. at the Nancy Hank Tennis Center. The Cowgirls will then hit the road for a pair of SLC matches against league leader Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State.
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