The men’s and women’s tennis teams had a successful first weekend in the Midland Racquet Club Invitational and the New Mexico State Aggie Invitational, as each earned doubles championships.
The women were led in Midland by senior Erin Walker and junior Whitney Williams.
Williams and Walker were facing the University of North Texas’ duo, Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze, in the doubles’ championships on Sunday.
The ‘Cats rallied through the tiebreaker and came out on top 8-6 (6).
“It just feels awesome,” Williams said. “I was really happy to be able to play and win with my best friend.”
The doubles victory is the first for both Walker or Williams, and the first major win from an ACU player since 2010 when Julia Mongin won the singles championship as a sophomore.
Walker went on to win three singles matches to reach the quarterfinals, but lost 6-2, 6-1 against Angeles de los Rios of UT-Arlington.
Junior Henry Adams and sophomore Joshua Sheehy put up wins for the men’s team over the weekend.
Adams beat Wichita State’s Austin Williams, 6-1, 6-2, and Sheehy won his lone match vs. Leonardo Telles of Texas in the first round of the consolation draw, 7-5, 6-4.
Adams also claimed one match in doubles with senior partner Nico Agritelley, defeating a duo from UT Permian Basin in the first round, 8-6.
In New Mexico, the duo Paul Domanski and Hunter Holman led the men with a championship showing of the main draw finishing 3-1 overall.
Domanski also led singles by reaching the quarterfinals and placing seventh, while Holman went 3-1 overall with two wins coming in the consolation draw.
Newcomer Jackson Fine tied with Holman for ninth place in the consolation bracket.
ACU partners, Brad Gleason and Cole Lawson placed seventh out of 15 overall and a 1-2 record.
Overall the teams went 4-5 in doubles at New Mexico State and were an even 11-11 in singles.
Fall season is used mostly as a time to learn and grow, but Williams believes her team to keep getting better from here.
“Mostly it is just a warm up season for the coaches to see where we are at in the grand scheme of things and what we need to improve of for spring season,” Williams said. “Overall I think ACU had a great showing.”
