Tennis Stats
ABILENE – Karla Martinez's 17
th straight singles victory gave Tarleton the last point it needed to advance past Western New Mexico 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon.
“Western New Mexico came in on a winning streak and we knew they would come out and play with good energy,” said Tarleton head coach
Lance Drake. “We were able to put them in a hole early after doubles and the unusually high temperatures made it tough on everyone because we're not used to it yet.”
Tarleton started the afternoon by sweeping the doubles field in numerical order, with No. 1
Alicia Perez and Martinez finishing first in an 8-0 sweep.
Following the sweep in the first match,
Melanie Barnes and
Ivana Zecevic took an 8-1 win in the No. 2 match while
Makenzie Mitchell and
Marina Rull battled for an 8-5 win in the No. 3.
“We played good doubles today,” said Drake. “Our No. 1 and No. 2 teams were solid all the way through. Our No. 3 team lost their focus for a few games but stopped a WNMU run and closed out the match.”
Rull and Mitchell have now won their last five doubles matches as a team and are 8-2 this season together in No. 3 doubles matches.
In singles, Tarleton needed just two wins to secure the win and the TexAnns got those wins in the No. 6 and No. 2 matches.
Silvia Nieva won her match 6-0, 6-1 to give Tarleton a 4-0 advantage over WNMU before Martinez finished her match 6-2, 6-2 to seal the deal and improve her personal singles winning streak to 17 straight matches.
The remaining singles matches were dismissed with No. 1 Perez in a 5-5 battle in the opening set, No. 3 Barnes leading 6-2, 5-0, No. 4 Zecevic leading 6-3 and No. 5 Rull leading 6-0, 5-2.
“Now we've got to turn our attention to the regional finals against top-seeded Abilene Christian,” said Drake. “We have to be mentally sharp, limit our mistakes and be ready to take advantage of opportunities.”
Tarleton will play Abilene Christian Monday afternoon where the winner will advance to the NCAA Round of 16 May 8 in Phoenix, Arizona.
