SAN MARCOS, Texas – In a match that lasted six hours, featured multiple weather delays, a change of courts and came down to the final set on court three, the Bobcats fell to the Thundering Herd 4-3 in the quarterfinals round of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Tennis Championship.
"Obviously an absolutely heartbreaking loss, but it wouldn't hurt so much if we hadn't put everything we had into it," said head coach Kendall Brooks. "Going to hurt for a while, but I am so proud of this team for the fight they showed today. I wanted it so bad for them because they deserved it. Lots to be proud of this season and lots of records broken. This group was special and you hate to see it end."
The quarterfinals match between the No. 3 seed Texas State and the No. 6 seed Marshall began with the Thundering Herd winning the doubles point. The Herd won back-to-back matches on courts two and three to gain a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Court two featured Chantajah Mills and Maria Lora, who dropped their match 0-6, and court three featured Kiana Graham and Callie Creath, who fell 4-6.
The second team All-SBC pair of Ireland Simme and Sofia Fortuno were tied 6-6 on court one when their match went unfinished.
The Bobcats weren't trailing for long as Newcomer of the Year Simme evened the match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 win on court No. 6. She ended the year with a perfect 15-0 record and is the only TXST women's tennis player in recorded history to earn 10+ wins and no losses.
The Herd regained the lead and went up 3-1 after winning matches on courts four and one. Freshman Tadiwa Mauchi fell on court four 3-6, 3-6, and Graham, playing line one, fell 3-6, 3-6.
The Bobcats continued to fight and brought the score back to 2-3 due to Creath on court two. She won her match in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
With the score tied 3-3, Texas State was in the third set on both court three featuring Callie Creath and court five featuring Sofia Fortuno, when the weather delays began.
After an hour-plus of delays, the conference announced the remaining portion of the matches would be played indoors.
When the play resumed indoors, Fortuno closed the door on her opponent, winning her match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
This left a trip to the semifinals down to the match on court three between Emily Niers and Alina Mokrynskaya. Niers won the first set 6-2 and dropped the second 1-6. The third set was tied 5-5, but Mokrynskaya pulled away at the end to win the match 7-5 and move the Thundering Herd on to the semifinals.
Despite falling short in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the 2024-25 Texas State women's tennis team will go down in history as the winningest team in program history.
