Tennis Stats

STEPHENVILLE - In the first Lone Star Conference action since spring break, the No. 17 Tarleton TexAnns fell to No. 5 Abilene Christian 8-1 in a battle of national powers Wednesday night.

"They controlled the match," said Tarleton head coach Lance Drake. "I give Abilene Christian a lot of credit, they were very sound and only gave us a few openings."

In singles, Karla Martinez highlighted the night by earning her first career win over Micah Hermsdorf in the No. 2 match. Martinez, unranked in the nation, knocked off the No. 32-ranked player in the nation by a score of 6-2, 6-3.

The No. 1 match featured a pair of nationally ranked singles players, No. 38 Alicia Perez and No. 5 Julia Mongin. ACU's Mongin got the win 6-0, 7-5 over Perez.

Tarleton dropped the rest of the singles matches. Melanie Barnes (3-6, 2-6), Ivana Zecevic (2-6, 3-6), Silvia Nieva (1-6, 1-6) and Marina Rull (1-6, 1-6) fell in the No. 3, 4, 5 and 6 spots, respectively.

Tarleton started the day in an 0-3 hole after dropping all three doubles matches, the No. 1 and 2 matches to nationally ranked opponents.

Perez and Martinez dropped a hard-fought match 6-8 to the nation's No. 5-ranked doubles team, Brittney Reed and Julia Mongin.

In the No. 2 match, Barnes and Zecevic fell 8-4 to the nation's No. 14-ranked doubles squad, Hannah Kelley and Hermsdorf.

The Wildcats won the No. 3 battle 8-0 over Tarleton's Makenzie Mitchell and Rull.

Tarleton will be in action later this week against Incarnate Word. The match is tentatively scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.