ABILENE – The Tarleton women's tennis team lost to No. 6 Abilene Christian 7-2 in their first competition of the spring season on Friday in Abilene.
After having their first event, the Rebel Invite, cancelled due to winter weather, Tarleton had to begin their season against a talented and very experienced Wildcat team.
With the ability to practice indoors, Abilene Christian had a glaring advantage entering the matches, but the TexAnns still put up a fight.
In No. 1 singles action, Julia Mongin defeated Tarleton's Alicia Perez (6-0, 6-2), while Adriana Jaskova dropped her No. 2 singles match to Jaclyn Walker (6-2, 6-4).
Mariana Frietas lost to Micah Hermsdorf in No. 3 singles (6-2, 6-1) and Melanie Barnes lost to Cassie Carver in No. 4 singles (6-4, 7-6).
Silvia Nieva and Kayla Deathrage were defeated by Emily Conrad and Natalie Friend respectively in No4 and No. 5 singles. Nieva's match went 6-1, 6-0, while Deathrage's match went 6-0, 6-0.
In doubles action, Walker-Mongin defeated Tarleton's Frietas-Perez, 8-0 in No. 1 doubles play. ACU's Conrad-White also won 8-3 over Tarleton's Nieva-Deathrage team in No. 3 doubles.
The TexAnns did pick up a win in No. 2 doubles as Jaskova and Barnes handed Carver and Hermsdorf an 8-4 loss.
Tennis head coach Lance Drake knew that the TexAnns were facing tough circumstances entering the match, but was proud of his girls' effort.
“ACU is No. 6 in the country for a reason,” said Drake. “They are strong from top to bottom and beat us in every category today. In spite of that, I thought we had good point play in spots. Adriana (Jaskova) and Melanie (Barnes) had a solid performance especially and took control of their doubles match.”
Drake also talked about the TexAnns strategy moving forward.
“We need much more court time and match play,” said Drake. “We have to remember it is just the beginning, and that we have to be there in the end.”
Tarleton will next head to Arkadelphia, Arkansas for the Ouachita Baptist Quad Invitational on Feb. 25 and 26. The TexAnns will hope to improve on their first performance against ACU as they take on three more quality opponents.
Be sure to check back at TarletonSports.com for more results and details of the 2011 Tarleton tennis season.
