The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their season this past weekend with a Lone Star State road trip that had the men travel to Lubbock and Waco, and the women play their matches in Fort Worth.
For the women, they begin the season 0-3 with three 4-0 shutout losses against TCU, North Texas, and SMU.
“We just have to start out our matches better,” said Sylvia Viljoen, a senior from Jackson, Mississippi. “We need to bring better play and bring more energy early in the match.”
Allison Stewart, a senior from Midland, and Claire Fisher, a junior from Flint, almost came away with tight victories in their singles match against UNT. The Wildcats did show improvement from game to game, they still struggled in some of their low-scoring single matches, like the 6-0, 6-1 loss in the third singles match against SMU.
For the men’s team, they start the season 0-2 with losses against two Power Five programs, Texas Tech and Louisiana Lafayette.
“We just have to remember it is all a blessing,” said Riley Tran, a senior from Colleyville. “It’s easy to focus on COVID, the scheduling, and the changes of guys going in and out, but we just have to focus on the positives. It’s not about what we have to do, but about what we get to do here.”
The Wildcats were originally scheduled to play against Baylor, but the game was postponed due to COVID-19 implications within the Bears men’s tennis program. Despite jumping through COVID-19 protocol hurdles all weekend, ACU found positivity going forward with one doubles win against Tech, and one singles win against Louisiana.
The women also faced some health and safety protocol entanglements prior to this opening weekend, but they now have eight healthy active players with them to continue forward with the 2022 season.
Both teams look to build upon their learning curves on the road again, where the women’s team will take on Texas Tech on Jan. 21, and UTSA on Jan. 22. As for the men, they head to Norman, Oklahoma, to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Jan. 22, then will head back to Waco on Jan. 23 to take on Boise State.
