While the majority of the ACU student body was away on spring break, the women’s tennis team went to work with four matches over the seven-day span.
The Wildcats went undefeated through the four matches, prevailing over Cleveland State University, Incarnate Word, University of New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana University. The latter three games were the Wildcats’ first Southland Conference matches of the season, giving them a 3-0 conference record and an 11-2 record overall.
Last Sunday, the ACU women opened their inaugural Southland Conference season with a lopsided 7-0 victory against UIW. After sweeping the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead, all six Wildcat women dominated their singles match-ups, winning in straight sets. No UIW player managed to win more than five games total between the two sets. Junior Brittany Reed and sophomore Nada Marjanovic highlighted the match as they shut out their respective opponents with 6-0, 6-0 victories.
The team traveled to New Orleans on Wednesday to face the University of New Orleans, and they scored a hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Privateers. Sisters Micah and Kaysie Hermsdorf improved their doubles record to 11-0 on the season, leading the team to another doubles sweep and the 1-0 lead heading into singles matches. From there, the Wildcats went 4-2 in their individual games, with seniors Micah Hermsdorf and Emily Conrad scoring victories alongside Marjanovic and freshman Erin Walker.
Thursday’s contest against SLU saw the Wildcats sweep their doubles matches once again, although all three pairings faced early deficits and showed a great deal of fight as they stormed back to win in a tiebreaker. Conrad and Marjanovic led the singles competition with straight-set victories over their opponents. Marjanovic’s win was her seventh in a row and team-leading 13th overall. After both Hermsdorf sisters failed to clinch the contest in their individual matches, Reed and Walker held serve with three set victories a piece to secure the Wildcats’ second consecutive 5-2 win.
On top of Nada Marjanovic’s seven-match winning streak, Emily Conrad has won four consecutive individual matches, while Micah Hermsdorf has won eight of her last 10.
ACU women’s tennis will look to continue their hot start to the Southland Conference season when they take on Northwestern State University on Friday and Stephen F. Austin University on Saturday. Friday’s match starts at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday’s contest begins at 10 a.m.
The ACU women’s tennis team was supposed to play a fifth match over the break, but Tuesday’s contest against Texas A&M Corpus Christi was postponed due to rain. The Wildcats will look to their match this weekend at home against Northwestern State on Friday and Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
