Match Statistics
San Marcos, Texas – Heading into Saturday, Texas State head tennis coach Tory Plunkett was nervous about how her young team of freshmen and sophomores would begin each of their first two dual matches against Prairie View A&M and UT Pan American at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.
“Each of the matches starts with doubles, and I was very nervous how they would perform in those matches,” said Plunkett. “Needless to say, they were fantastic all day. They only lost one doubles match during the entire day and that didn't count in the team scoring, so they won 7-0 twice. That says a lot about them as players because they really went out and performed well as a group. This is a great way to start the season.”
It took Texas State 30 minutes to win its doubles point against Prairie View A&M on Saturday morning as the Bobcats won two matches and the third was suspended with Texas State leading 5-2 in that match. Gabriela Rojas and Bérénice Van Den Bergh defeated Alejandra Barrera and Raven Lewis 8-1 in the No. 2 doubles match, while Jessica Laing and Mariana Perez won 8-0 over Lise Karenzi and Alix Thomas in the No. 3 match.
Those two victories gave Texas State the team doubles point so the No. 1 match between Texas State's Melissa Hadad and Jessica Kahts and Prairie View A&M's Brittany Harrell and Lerato Ndlovu was halted so the teams could begin singles matches.
“That may be the quickest doubles matches we have played in my eight years here,” said Plunkett. “We came out mentally focused and played every point like it was match point.”
In singles action, Texas State was just as dominant as the Bobcats won all six of the singles matches. Kahts defeated Ndlovu 6-0, 6-3 in the top-seeded match. In the No. 2 match, Hadad defeated Harrell 6-1, 6-2, and Rojas won the No. 3 match 6-1, 6-4 over Raven Lewis.
The No. 4 match was decided in three sets as Jessica Laing won 10-3 in the tie breaker over Alejandra Barrera after Laing won the first set 6-0, and Barrera bounced back to win the second set 6-4.
Perez won her No. 5 singles match, 6-0, 6-3 over Thomas, while Van Den Bergh won the No. 6 singles match 6-2, 6-1 over Lise Karenzi.
In addition, Stephanie Gonzales defeated Paige Jackson 6-0, 6-1 in the other singles match.
Following the victory over Prairie View A&M, Texas State came right back and won its second match of the day with a 7-0 victory over UT Pan American. The Bobcats won the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches to gain the first team point.
Rojas and Van Den Bergh defeated Wanda Beguelin and Suncica Strkic 8-6 in the No. 2 match, while Laing and Perez defeated Dana Nazarova and Blanca Garcia Izaguirre 8-1. In the No. 1 doubles match Hadad and Kahts fell to Malin Anderson and Reetta Raty 8-6.
In singles action, the Bobcats won each of the matches in straight sets as Kahts defeated Anderson 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 1 match. Rojas won the No. 3 match 7-5, 6-1, while Laing defeated Strkic 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 4 match. In the No. 5 match, Perez won a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Nazarova and Van Den Bergh defeated Garcia 6-1, 6-1 in the number six match.
The most competitive singles match was the No. 2 match between Hadad and Beguelin. Hadad won the first set by a score of 6-4, but had to come from behind to win the second set in a tie breaker. Trailing 6-5, she faced set point three times before battling back to win the game and force a tie-breaker, which she won 7-3.
Texas State is 2-0 this season, while Prairie View A&M fell to 0-2 after losing at Sam Houston State on Friday, and UT Pan American dropped to 0-3 after the Broncs opened the season with losses at SMU and TCU last weekend.
The Bobcats will look to win their third straight match on Tuesday, February 5, when they play host to UTEP at the Bobcat Tennis Complex at noon.
