PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – The Texas State women's tennis team suffered a 4-1 loss against Appalachian State in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Thursday morning at the Peachtree City Tennis Complex.
Entering the championship as the No. 10 seed, Texas State fell behind early in the match after surrendering the doubles point when Appalachian State won two of the three contests.
First,
Joy Chia Ming Ming and
Sofia Murcia-Rodriguez lost a 6-3 decision against Teodora Sevo and Melissa Machado in the No. 3 match.
Then,
Alex Jones and
Rishona Israel-Lewis battled in a hard fought top-seeded match against the All-Sun Belt Conference tandem of Heidi Swope and Maria Jose Zacarias before falling, 7-5.
The Bobcats were on pace to win the No. 2 match with
Ana Perez and
Julia Navajo-Melendez leading 5-4 against Sandra Anglesjo and Emily Gaskins before the contest of halted.
The Mountaineers, who entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed, clinched the victory when they won three of the four decisions in singles matches.
The lone victory for Texas State came on the No. 3 court where Navajo-Melendez won in straight sets by a score of 6-3, 6-3 against Taylor
Perez suffered a 6-0, 6-1 setback against Jose Zacarias in the top-seeded match.
Navajo-Melendez scored Texas State lone point when she defeated Taylor, Bygrave, 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 3 match.
In the final two decisive matches, Israel-Lewis and Jones lost their two singles matches. Israel-Lewis fell by a score of 6-4, 6-1 against Sevo on the No. 2 court. Jones, Texas State's lone senior, closed out her collegiate career with a 6-0, 6-3 setback against Swope in the No. 4 match
Two other matches were halted when Appalachian State clinched the victory. Freshman
Andrea Fuchs was ahead 5-3 in the second set of her No.6 match after Machado had won the opening set 6-2. Chia Ming Ming also trailed 6-3, 5-2 in her No.5 match against Morse.
With the loss, Texas State's season ends with a 4-15 record, while Appalachian State improves to 11-10. The Mountaineers face No. 2 seeded Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday morning at 10 a.m.
In other first round matches, No. 9-seeded Georgia Southern beat eighth-seeded Louisiana, 4-2, and sixth-seeded and defending champion ULM defeated No. 11-seeded Arkansas State by a score of 4-1.
In addition to Appalachian State's match against Georgia State, the other quarterfinal matches features Georgia Southern facing top-seeded Troy, No. 4 South Alabama meeting No. 5 UTA and ULM facing No. 3-seeded Coastal Carolina. The winners will play in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Saturday and the championship match is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sunday.
