By Brandon Tripp, Sports Writer
ACU tennis continued its winning ways over the weekend and stayed hot Tuesday after going 5-1 in the six matches. The men went 2-1 while the women went undefeated.
The men defeated Metro State and University of the Southwest over the weekend before falling Tuesday to No. 12 conference opponent Cameron University. The women went undefeated in their three matches, shutting out all three opponents including two nationally-ranked conference opponents.
“It was a good weekend for us,” head coach Hutton Jones said. “We really put it on our opponents.”
The men were dominant over the weekend, beating both opponents by a score of 9-0. Against Metro State, ranked No. 2 in the Central Region, No. 22 Juan Nuñez defeated the No. 20 singles player in the country, Sascha Ruckelhausen, by a score of 6-2, 4-5. Ruckelhausen retired midway through the second set with an injury. Red-shirt freshman Eldad Campbell fell behind in his No. 3 singles match after dropping the first set 2-6, but came back to win the next two 6-4, 6-4.
Against the University of the Southwest, the men dropped just one set in the No. 3 singles slot. Hutton Jones Jr. fell behind 0-6 in the first set, but rallied to win two straight sets 6-2 and 11-9 in the tiebreaker. The No. 3 doubles team of Corey Hale and Cody McCarty put on a show, shutting down Marcos Villalobos and Valemar Soto 8-0.
In Tuesday’s match against conference opponent Cameron University, the Wildcats fell behind early after losing two of the three doubles matches. The lone win came after the No. 3 doubles team of Jones Jr. and Campbell rallied to give the Wildcats their only point on the doubles side with 9-7 win.
In singles play, No. 1 Nuñez struggled early against the nation’s No. 18 singles player Daniel Pazos, dropping the first set 6-1. After the break, Nuñez jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the second set and held set point to win the second set. In the third and final set, Nuñez withdrew with what was diagnosed as an ankle sprain.
“I seriously thought it was all for me,” Nuñez said. “I was controlling the serves and points, and it was really just some bad luck.”
The lone win in the singles matches came in the No. 5 slot after Luke Hawk defeated Carlos Viscarra in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
The men improved their record to 18-4 overall. The conference loss to Cameron broke the tie at the top of the conference and dropped the Wildcats to 1-1 in the conference.
The women had similar results in their weekend matches, scoring 9-0 victories against both Metro State and No. 13 Tarleton State and dropping just one set in the two matches. Against Metro State, the Wildcats dominated from start to finish, winning all six matches in straight sets. The match against conference opponent Tarleton State proved to be a bit more challenging, but the Wildcats handled recorded their second shut-out of the year.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats faced another nationally ranked opponent and conference foe in the Cameron Aggies. The Wildcats had no trouble with the No. 25 Aggies, scoring their eleventh shutout of the year.
“Our women really know how to get it done,” Jones said. “They know that if you should beat someone badly, you should do it and not let up.”
With the three impressive wins, the Wildcats move to 16-2 overall and remain tied for the top spot in conference with Northeastern State at 4-0.
Both teams return to action over the weekend as the men will compete in the Blue-Gray Classic over the weekend in Montgomery, Ala. The women will face their sixth Division I opponent when they play UT-El Paso (13-6).
“This is just another week,” Jones said. “We are going to try and go out there and get ready for a run by playing tough opponents.”
