The ACU men’s and women’s tennis teams had a successful weekend of competition in Las Cruces, N.M..
The men fell to New Mexico State at the start, but beat Western New Mexico to improve their record to 5-6 on the season. The women kept their hot streak alive as they swept their competition over the weekend, while improving to 7-2 on the year.
The men struggled against the Aggies, losing 6-1. Their lone victory came from No. 1 doubles team of senior Borja Cortés and sophomore Nicklas Wingord and by No. 6 singles player Marco Bensley. With the exception of Wingord, the other Wildcats fell in straight sets.
Assistant coach John Walker was content with the way the boys played and their effort.
“The guys are competing well and I’m pleased with our team’s resiliency,” Walker said. “They look forward to tough matches and understand there is nothing wrong with struggling. It will only make us tougher if we continue to compete with the proper attitude and perspective.”
The men came to play against Western New Mexico, finishing them off with a 4-0 victory.
The women swept all three matches over the weekend and have won five of their last six matches overall. The women defeated the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Texas El-Paso with identical scores of 5-2. They saved the most dramatic for last as they defeated New Mexico State 4-3.
Down 3-2, the women rallied and pulled off the comeback against the Aggies. After winning the double point, the women dropped three of the first four singles points at No. 1, 4 and 6 positions. In between those defeats, junior Brittney Reed was able to come back a set down against Chloe Jolliff at the No. 2 spot.
“I told myself to dig in, weather the storm, and find a way to win the match for my team,” Reed said.
Sophomore Nada Marjanovic improved her season record to 9-2 by winning in the N0. 5 slot. To top off the victory, freshman Erin Walker came through in the clutch and finished out on top at the No. 3 position to hand the Wildcats the victory.
Kaysie and Micah Hermsdorf remained perfect in the season at 8-0 in doubles action. The sisters enjoy playing with one another and are confident in keeping the prefect streak alive.
“I absolutely love playing with my sister. We understand each other really well on the court and pretty much know where the other is going to go during a point,” Kaysie Hermsdorf said. “I feel really confident we can go undefeated this season. We are a really good team and have the intensity to come back even if we are down.”
The women return to action March 4 at home in their first conference match of the year against Northwestern State at noon.
The men are off until the weekend of March 8-9 when they will take on Cleveland State and Incarnate Word.
