Women's Tennis | 4/20/2017 2:38:00 PM
NEW ORLEANS - With their backs planted firmly against the wall, the eighth-seeded Texas State women's tennis team produced a monumental comeback to win a 4-3 decision over ninth-seeded Louisiana in the first round of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships on Thursday morning at the City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center.
Playing in the opening match of the championships, the Bobcats trailed 3-0 and dropped three of the first sets in the remaining four singles matches before they rallied back to capture all four victories.
Louisiana took its early lead after winning the doubles point and two singles matches in straight sets. The Ragin' Cajuns won the first doubles point when Abby Johnson and Lucile Delabarre claimed a 6-3 decision over
Eva Dench and
Alex Jones in the top-seeded match. The Ragin' Cajuns clinched the point when India Shiaelis and Alexandra Way won a 7-4 tiebreaker over
Pippa Carr and
Joy Chia Ming Ming to win the No. 3 match by a score of 7-6.
The final doubles match was halted after Louisiana clinched the team point with Texas State's
Ana Perez and
Julia Navajo-Melendez tied with Kelly Drew and Charla Ortega at 6-6. Drew and Ortega were leading 3-2 in a tiebreaker when the match was stopped.
Louisiana's lead increased to 2-0 when Dench fell in the No. 1 singles match in straight sets as Way claimed a 6-2, 6-1 victory. The Ragin' Cajuns took a commanding 3-0 lead after Perez dropped the No. 3 singles match in straight sets with Delabarre winning the final four points of the second set to capture a 6-1, 6-4 triumph.
Texas State began its comeback when Chia Ming Ming won a straight-set victory in the No. 5 match against Shiaelis by a score of 6-4, 6-3.
Then, Navajo-Melendez pulled the Bobcats closer when she won her No. 4 match against Johnson after dropping the first set, 6-0. Navajo-Melendez came back to win the second set by a score of 6-4 and the third set, 6-1, to secure the win.
In the No. 2 match, Carr also dropped the first set by a score of 7-5, but she came back to win the second set by a score of 6-2. She tied the team score at 3-3 when she triumphed in the third set by a score of 6-4.
The final match was decided after Jones also lost the first set of her No. 6 match against Ortega by a score of 6-1. She began her comeback by winning the second set, 6-3. After trailing 3-2 in the final set, Jones rallied again to tie the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker, which she won, 7-5, to clinch the victory for Texas State.
This marks the third straight season that Texas State has won its first round match in the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships with two of the three wins coming against the Ragin' Cajuns. The victory also improves Texas State's overall record to 8-10 and gives the Bobcats a record of 3-2 against Sun Belt Conference teams this season and gives the Bobcats a 3-2 mark on neutral courts.
The victory also advances Texas State to the quarterfinals of the SBC Championships, where the Bobcats will play against No. 1-seeded ULM at 8 a.m. on Friday.
