Fall Statistics
ABILENE – After the rain disrupted the opening day, the Tarleton TexAnns wrapped up their fall schedule at the ITA South Central Regional Tournament at Abilene Christian University and will now turn their attention to preparing for the spring.
“We've got some work to do before the spring,” said Tarleton head coach Lance Drake. “We're better now than we were at this point last year. We made progress, but we're nowhere near our potential. Everyone's going to have to be willing to work hard to reach the goals we have set for the spring.”
The tournament began Saturday and was hindered by rain all day, changing the tournament to a shortened format.
“The rain made it a long day,” said Drake. “Everyone had to sit around and wait, and then you throw in the shortened format. All of that made for a tough day.”
In the main draw singles bracket, Karla Martinez advanced through the first three rounds while Melanie Barnes and Alicia Perez each won their first match before faltering the second round.
Martinez defeated Katie Howe of Colorado State-Pueblo 6-2, 6-2 in her first round match before moving on to a 6-4, 6-3 win against Incarnate Word's Taryn Strahl. In the third round, she knocked off conference rival Laura Mongin from Abilene Christian 6-4, 6-4 before falling in the fourth round to ACU's Micah Hermsdorf in a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 battle.
“Karla played well,” said Drake. “Her quarterfinal match against Hermsdorf was a good match and both girls played well. Karla was able to implement, into her game, some of the new things we have been working on and I'm very pleased with her progress on the court.”
Barnes battled conference rival Madeline Schorlemmer from Midwestern State and won the match 6-3, 5-7, 14-12 in a 10-point tiebreaker. She fell in the second round to Incarnate Word 6-4, 6-4.
“Melanie didn't play her best, but came up big on some major points,” said Drake. “She fell behind twice in her 10-point tiebreaker, but came up big at the right times. Her loss against Incarnate Word was something where the rain-shortened format hurt us a little bit.”
Perez also succeeded in the first round with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Arkansas Fort Smith before falling in the second round to Cameron 6-3, 6-3.
Ivana Zecevic drew a tough match in the main draw, falling 7-6, 7-5 to St. Mary's Mariana Rong who eventually advanced to the tournament finals, but swept her next three matches to of the consolation bracket.
“The girl from St. Mary's played very well and it was a quality match,” said Drake. “It was a good match for Ivana. Then she turned around and advanced to the semifinals of the consolation bracket. She's really feeling more comfortable with her game and getting used to the college tennis atmosphere.”
She defeated CSU-Pueblo 6-4, 6-2 in her first consolation game before claiming wins against Oklahoma Christian (6-4, 6-4) and Midwestern State (3-6, 6-4, 11-9) on Sunday.
Mariana Rull was the only other TexAnn to record a win on the weekend, defeating CSU-Pueblo 7-6, 6-3 in the first round of consolation play. She was defeated 6-2, 6-2 in the main draw and 6-3, 7-5 in her final consolation match against St. Edward's.
Silvia Nieva fell 6-4, 6-2 to Arkansas Fort Smith in the main draw and 6-2, 6-3 to St. Edward's in the consolation bracket. April Downing lost 6-4, 6-2 in the main draw and a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 match to Texas-Permian Basin in the consolation bracket. Makenzie Mitchell lost to UIW 6-2, 7-5 in the main draw and Midwestern State 6-4, 6-4 in the consolation bracket.
In doubles play, Perez and Martinez earned the only win of the weekend with an 8-3 win over Abilene Christian. They lost to St. Mary's 8-3 in the second round.
The Tarleton tandems of Downing and Nieva (8-0), Zecevic and Mitchell (8-6) and Barnes and Rull (8-3) lost in the round to OCU, UIW and St. Mary's, respectively.
