Women's Tennis | 2/17/2017 9:44:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – In a match which included the final two points being decided by a tiebreaker and a three-set decision, the Texas State women's tennis team suffered a hard-fought 4-3 loss against Stephen F. Austin on Friday at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.
Texas State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after winning two of the three doubles matches and capturing the team doubles point. First,
Pippa Carr and
Ana Perez teamed up and defeated Vanessa Pardo and Sian Payne by a score of 6-1. Then,
Julia Navajo-Melendez and
Joy Chia Ming Ming won a 6-4 decision over Denise Maxi and Kaja Ljubic to give the Bobcats.
The two teams fought back and forth through the first four singles matches with each team winning a pair. First, Maxi put SFA on the scoreboard when she defeated
Eva Dench by a score of 6-2, 6-2 on the No. 1 court.
Then, Texas State came right back to take a 2-1 lead as Chia Ming Ming dominated play early and won the first set by a score of 6-2 against Ljubic. After trailing 4-1 early in the second set, Chia Ming Ming won six of the next seven points to capture the victory in straight sets.
The Lady Jacks tied the score again when Liza Aginskaya defeated
Yadira Rubio by a score of 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 6 match.
Texas State took another 3-2 lead when Navajo-Melendez won her match against Darinka Tiboldi in three sets. Navajo-Melendez won the first set by a score of 7-6 after capturing the tiebreaker 7-5. Tiboldi won the second set 6-4 before Navajo-Melendez took the third set by a score of 6-1.
SFA tied the score again when Pardo won a second-set tiebreaker against Perez by a score of 7-5 to capture their match in straight sets by a score of 6-4, 7-6. The Lady Jacks claimed the victory when Hildago-Smith edged Carr in three sets by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on the No. 2 court.
The loss drops Texas State's record to 2-1 while Stephen F. Austin improves to 3-2. The Bobcats return to action on Saturday when they host Northwestern State at 11 a.m. at the Bobcat Tennis Complex. Texas State will host Louisiana Tech on Sunday at 11 a.m.
