Men’s and women’s tennis combined for an undefeated 4-0 weekend in Louisiana after the women came away with a dominant 6-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana.
Sophomore Sarah Adams, who was a perfect 2-0 with her partner freshman Nini Memishishi in doubles matches over the weekend, said the wins will help the team get back on track.
“It was a great weekend, we definitely needed the confidence boost after a couple of close losses,” Adams said. “Once we get deep into the season like this, things usually start to come together, we sort of get into a groove, which is always a good feeling.”
Adams also clinched the win for the Wildcats over New Orleans with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory at the No. 4 spot.
The women continued their winning ways taking the double’s point against the lady Lions and winning five of the six singles matches. Both Memishishi and sophomore Autumn Crossnoe extended their match winning streaks to four and five wins respectively.
The win was also Memishishi’s 13 of the season, which is two more than the next closest in senior Whitney Williams, who earned her 11th victory of the year on Sunday.
For the men, it was a comeback effort against non-conference opponent Xavier University of Louisiana and another impressive performance victory, this time over New Orleans that extended their team match win streak to five and allowed them to remain unbeaten in conference.
Against Xavier, the men faltered in doubles, despite a win from sophomore Jonathan Sheehy and junior Cole Lawson and trailed 4-3 before storming back in the final two matches. Senior Hunter Holman tied the match at 4-4 with a 6-3, 6-2 win and senior Henry Adams secured the win over the nation’s second ranked NAIA squad with a straight-set victory.
“Coming into Xavier we knew it was going to be a tough match after they took down another team from our conference, Nichols, 4-0 so we were ready when it came down to the wire,” junior Josh Sheehy said. “Henry did a great job of staying strong and pulling through at the end when it mattered most.”
With momentum on its side, ACU disposed of UNO quite handily. The Wildcats earned the doubles point with victories from Josh Sheehy and senior Paul Domanski and seniors Brad Gleason and Adams. The team then added singles wins at the No. 1, 3, 4 and 5 lines to clinch the match 5-2.
Adams and Josh Sheehy each extended their win streaks to five games with victories in the match. For his efforts last week, Sheehy earned Southland Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season.
“Everyone played well and we were able to defeat UNO with few problems,” Josh Sheehy said. “With the win we now have just two conference matches left and I know we can win both of them.”
After the perfect weekend, the women are now 10-7 overall and 4-3 in conference and prepare to return to Abilene this weekend for matchups with Stephen F. Austin and conference leader Northwestern State, who is 7-0 in the Southland.
The men, who have now won five-straight matches following a 4-0 week, will be idle until April 14 when they take on Incarnate Word.
