The Lamar Cardinals tennis teams were unkind visitors to Abilene, as their men’s and women’s tennis teams trumped the Abilene Christian teams Sunday at the Thompson Family Center.
The ACU men fell 4-3, while the women lost 5-2 at the hands of the Division I Cardinals. The loss on the women’s side marks the team’s first loss of the season.
“My main hope following the loss is that we learn some things from it,” head coach Hutton Jones said. “Lamar is a great team, and those matches were a battle. We competed at a very high level, and I’m hoping we grow from the losses. In the grand scheme of things, these losses were not detrimental.”
On the women’s side, No. 6 ACU (5-1) could not extend its five-match winning streak against the Cardinals (2-3).
The team started the match losing the doubles point, before losing four of the six singles matches that followed.
“Lamar just had our number,” Jones said. “I don’t think we were as focused or intense as we had been leading up to this point in the season. We are better than those matches showed. As a team, we were very surprised to lose that match. Take nothing away from Lamar, but I felt we didn’t play our best tennis.”
Sophomore Micah Hermsdorf over Lamar’s No. 2 player Natalia Mayagoitia 7-5, 6-3 to retain her unbeaten season record of 6-0.
“I was down 2-5 and the weather was pretty bad, but I kept telling myself to not give up and keep fighting,” Hermsdorf said. “My mentality was to take it one point at a time, and I ended up coming back 7-5, and then I won the second set. It was an intense match, and a great reminder to myself to never give up.”
Sophomore Felicity Delgado improved to 5-0 with her 6-2, 6-0 win over Helene Czudek.
The doubles duo of Laura Mongin and Brittney Reed won ACU’s lone doubles match 8-1.
ACU’s top doubles team of Julia Mongin and Hermsdorf lost a back-and-forth 8-6 match.
On the men’s side, the Cardinals (1-2) clinched the match during the No. 5 singles match.
Lamar’s Carlos Valdenebro held off a vicious comeback by freshman Guilherme Gesser in the match.
“The whole thing came down to the final match and everyone was watching,” Jones said. Guilherme lost 7-6 in the third, but boy, did he ever compete. He gave it everything he had, and that made me proud. For a freshman to be in a spot like that and almost pull it out is quite a feat.”
Gesser lost the first set 6-1, but won the second set 7-6 before losing the least one.
Sophomore Hans Hach and freshman Michael Morris each won their singles matches and as the No. 3 doubles team.
Hach then improved his singles record to 6-2 with a win in straight sets over Denis Ermilov following the doubles win.
Morris followed by beating Mikko Rajamaki in the No. 6 spot for his second victory of the season.
At the No. 4 singles spot, freshman Borja Cortes won 6-3, 7-5 to even his season record to 4-4.
The men’s team will continue its season February 25 at home, while the women’s team will travel to Kentucky and Tennessee to play several opponents.
