SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State tennis team suffered their second straight loss when the Bobcats fell 5-2 against ULM in a Sun Belt Conference match on Monday morning at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.
The Bobcats won a pair of singles matches and one doubles match against the Warhawks, with
Hana Kvapilova coming back to win the No. 1 singles match and
Rishona Israel-Lewis winning the No. 2 singles contest.
Kvapilova trailed 4-1 in the opening set of her match against Hala Badwy before she rallied to win six of the next seven points. After winning the first set, 7-5, she came back to win the second set, 6-3.
R. Israel-Lewis dominated her No. 2-seeded match against Drousile Dzebou. She jumped out to a 3-2 lead and captured the final three points to win the first set, 6-2. Then, she sprang to an early 4-1 advantage before winning the second set, 6-4.
Kvapilova and R. Israel-Lewis also combined to win the top-seeded doubles match against Badwy and Oleksandra Balaba by a score of 6-1.
Texas State began the day having to surrender a point in doubles by default when
Andrea Fuchs suffered an injury and retired. After Kvapilova and R. Israel-Lewis evened the score with their doubles victory, the Warhawks took an early 1-0 lead when
Nikita Pradeep and
Chacadyah Israel-Lewis dropped a 6-3 decision in the No. 2 doubles match against Dzebou and Madalina Grigoriu.
The Bobcats tied the team score at 2-2, with Kvapilova and R. Israel-Lewis winning their matches and
Renata Gonzalez dropping her No. 5 match 6-1, 6-0 against Grigoriu.
The Warhawks won the three remaining singles matches to capture the victory. Balaba defeated Pradeep 6-3, 6-0 on the No. 3 court. C. Israel-Lewis replaced Fuchs in the No. 4 contest and split the first two sets before dropping the Super Tiebreaker 10-7 in the third set.
Sofia Murcia-Rodriguez also suffered a 6-2, 7-6 loss against Daniela Hernandez after losing the tiebreaker 7-3 in the second set on the No. 6 match.
The loss drops Texas State's overall record at 4-5, and the Bobcats are 0-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. Texas State looks to avenge its first league loss when they host Arkansas State at 10 a.m. on March 21 at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.
