- Box Score
ADA, OK – Tarleton State recorded its fifth sweep of the young season Thursday afternoon as the No. 26-ranked TexAnns defeated the reigning conference champions of the Great American Conference, East Central, 9-0.
"This was a very challenging victory and our girls showed some good toughness," said Tarleton head coach
Lance Drake. "East Central has a lot of pride and fought hard in every matchup. They kept coming, which is a big reason why they were victorious last season.
"Overall, we were a bit sluggish as a team but our ladies came through in critical times and in pressure situations," he continued. "That is what I am most happy with in our performance."
Tarleton started the day with a doubles sweep, starting with the No. 3 tandem of
Melanie Barnes and
Silvia Nieva defeating ECU 8-4. The No. 1 team of
Ivana Zecevic and
Luiza Adas were close behind with an 8-4 win as well.
Alicia Perez and
Ellie Stevens needed an extra set to determine a winner but the TexAnns pulled out a 9-8 win with a 7-3 tiebreaking victory.
"We were able to get the sweep of doubles, even though it didn't look like we were firing on all cylinders," said Drake. "We had that momentum heading into singles and I thought we had much better focus in singles."
In singles, Perez was dominant in the No. 1 match and wasted no time in earning the fourth win of the day for Tarleton in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of ECU.
Nieva (6-1, 6-3) and Mackenzie Mitchell (6-1, 6-1) were the next two TexAnns to finish in the win column while Barnes (6-4, 6-1), Adas (6-2, 6-2) and Zecevic (6-7, 6-3, 10-5) rounded out the Tarleton victory. Zecevic earned the hard-fought, three-set win in a 10-5 super-tiebreak victory.
"Alicia was really zoned in and played a good match," he continued. "Melanie settled in to her match and played a solid second set while Mackenzie played a quality, smart match and Silvia was able to keep her control. Luiza displayed a lot of variety in her match and Ivana had a difficult matchup but was able to get refocused and pull out the win. Overall, it was a good victory over a quality opponent."
Tarleton returns home Wednesday afternoon for a 2 p.m. match to begin Lone Star Conference action when they host Midwestern State.
