Tennis Stats
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After a week off, No. 28 Tarleton was back in action at the Ouachita Baptist Quad this weekend where they split the opening day with a loss to Northeastern State before earning an 8-1 victory over the tournament-host Tigers.
Northeastern State 6, Tarleton 3
Despite losing last season's No. 1 player
Alicia Perez to an injury, the TexAnns battled against the Riverhawks and came up just short.
“Without the services of
Alicia Perez, we came up short against a solid Northeastern squad who is playing with a lot of confidence,” said head coach
Lance Drake. “NSU took the doubles point and that propelled them into singles. We knew we were short handed, but as a team and individually as a player you have to be able to step up. We had several opportunities out there (yesterday) and just didn't capitalize on those. We doubt ourselves and can be careless at times. You just can't do that at this level.”
Melanie Barnes and
Ivana Zecevic were the only TexAnns to earn a victory in doubles, winning a hard-fought 9-8 battle in the No. 2 match.
Karla Martinez and
Makenzie Mitchell dropped the No. 1 game 6-8 while
Marina Rull and
April Downing fell 8-9 in the No. 3 match. Rull was playing in her first action of the spring.
In singles, Martinez earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the No. 1 match while Barnes came out on top in the No. 3 match with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win.
Zecevic (6-1, 2-6, 1-6),
Silvia Nieva (0-6, 0-6), Rull (6-7, 0-6) and Mitchell (0-6, 1-6) fell in the No. 2, 4, 5, and 6 matches, respectively.
Tarleton 8, Ouachita Baptist 1
In the second match of the day, Tarleton bounced back from the loss by running away from Ouachita Baptist in the nightcap.
“It is always difficult to come back from a tough defeat, and even tougher when you don't have much down time,” said Drake. “I thought our team did a fairly good job. We were able to elevate our games when we needed to. We just have to learn to do that in every match.”
The TexAnns swept the doubles round with Martinez and Mitchell taking the No. 1 match 8-5, Barnes and Zecevic earning an 8-6 win in the No. 2 match and Downing and Rull winning the No. 3 match 8-3.
“Melanie toughed it out in doubles with a back issue, so we pulled her in singles,” said Drake. “
Marina Rull was in her first action of the year and mentally it showed. We had some great points, but couldn't string many together. We were able to get all 3 doubles, but OBU put up a really good fight.”
In singles, Martinez (6-4, 6-0) handles the No. 1 match while Nieva (6-2, 6-2) and Downing (6-4, 6-0) handled the No. 5 and No. 6 matches in the regular fashion.
For the sake of time, the No. 2, 3 and 4 matches were played in a pro set with Zecevic (8-2) and Mitchell (8-6) earning wins in the No. 2 and 4 spots, respectively. Rull dropped the No. 3 match 5-8.
Tarleton is back in action today at Ouachita Baptist.
