With the men idle for a few weeks, the women defended home court against conference leader Northwestern State and handily defeated long-time rival Stephen F. Austin.
Against the Lady Demons, the Wildcats rebounded from an early deficit, after losing the doubles point, to earn a 4-3 victory behind wins at the No. 3 and No. 6 spots from freshmen Nini Memishishi and Illeana Mocciola. Other wins that contributed to snapping NSU’s seven-match win streak were senior Lucile Pothier’s 10th win of the spring and sophomore Autumn Crossnoe’s 6-3, 6-4 handling of Judit Castillo.
Pothier’s win also handed her opponent, Polina Mutel, her first loss of the season.
Associate Head Coach John Walker said he saw NSU’s undefeated conference record as extra motivation.
“We came into that match knowing that [Northwestern State] was undefeated in our conference, it wasn’t a secret, and I actually told the team that because I was playing it in a way that we could work it in our advantage,” Walker said. “I was thinking they’re due to lose, and we’re a good team, so there’s no better opportunity than now.”
The Wildcats carried the momentum from the upset victory into their Saturday meeting with SFA, as ACU swept the Lady Jacks 7-0. All of the matches went in straight-set fashion as Crossnoe and Memishishi extended their match winning streaks to six and seven respectively, and the team won its fourth-straight. Senior Whitney Williams also won her 12th match of the season for ACU.
In the dominant match against SFA, Walker said it would have been easy for the team to be caught off guard after the big win, but the women came out ready to play.
“They weren’t trying to cut any corners short and try and do something quickly and get anything done in a quick way,” Walker said. “It was just a professional day of tennis against Stephen F. Austin, and that’s what it really took.”
After starting the spring conference season 2-3, ACU is now 6-3 with two conference matches remaining and sit two matches back of the Lady Demons and McNeese State each at 7-1.
The Wildcats will get a few weeks off before both the men and women close out the conference portion of their schedule April 14 and 16 at Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Walker said he isn’t too worried about the break, having played so many matches already this season.
“It’s good to have a little bit of a small break. But either way we’re going to be fine,” Walker said. “We’ve played a lot of matches up to this point, I mean we’re deep into the conference season, and I don’t think a week or two in between is going to affect us.”
The men however, will be in action April 13 in a non-conference tune-up against the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The men are undefeated at 3-0 in conference play and boast a 14-8 overall record, while the women are 12-7.
