Women's Tennis | 2/5/2016 9:28:00 PM
Mobile, Ala. – The Texas State women's tennis team dropped its second match of the season and first Sun Belt Conference match on Friday afternoon, when the Bobcats fell 6-1 at South Alabama. The Jaguars are the defending Sun Belt champions and ranked No. 73 in the latest ITA national rankings.
Texas State jumped out to an early lead when they captured the doubles point after winning the final two matches. However, the Bobcats were unable to carry that momentum into singles play.
"We played very well in doubles," said Texas State head coach
Tory Plunkett. "We came out with a lot of energy and immediately started the matches with aggressive play."
That strategy paid off as the Bobcats were able to win the top two seeded matches after South Alabama won the No. 3 match by a score of 6-0. But, Texas State bounced back when freshmen
Yadira Rubio and
Ana Perez combined to win a 6-2 decision over Laura Valkova and Michaela Meszarosova in the top-seeded match.
Eva Dench and
Katy Collins clinched the doubles point when they won a 6-4 decision over Alexandria Stiteler and Monica Mitta in the No. 2 match.
The Bobcats dropped three points quickly in singles play when Rubio was shut out by Stiteler in the top-seeded match and Perez fell 6-1, 6-2 against Meszarosova by a score of 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 match. The Jaguars increased their lead when
Ammaarah Tim dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision against Cinta Maria Papke by a score of 6-2, 6-2.
Texas State tried to get back into contention as
Eva Dench and
Pippa Carr came within a tiebreaker point of capturing the second set in each of their matches after dropping their first sets by a score of 6-2. Dench lost her tiebreaker by a score of 7-3 against Valkova in the No. 2 match. Carr fell 7-4 in her tiebreaker against Mitta in the No. 3 match.
Collins also suffered a 6-4, 6-3 setback against Alina Zolotareva in the No. 4 match.
"South Alabama is a solid team in singles, but I thought we competed very well and improved from our last match," said Plunkett. "Our freshmen are still learning and gaining experience. They are fighting hard and eventually, this will pay off."
Texas State will be looking for its first win of the season when the Bobcats play Nicholls State on Saturday in Mobile. That match will start at 1 p.m.
