Women's Tennis | 4/25/2015 11:08:00 PM
DALLAS, Texas – The 36
th-ranked St. Edward's Women's team wrapped up the Heartland Conference Tournament with a hard-fought loss to rival #13 St. Mary's Saturday morning by a 5-1 decision.
St. Edward's came away with a clutch victory at the No. 1 doubles position as
BROOKE HUGHES and Sasha Khadzyhan were masterful together. They jumped out to an early lead over the #7 ranked duo in the nation of Mariana Rong and Cristina Lopez, and never looked back as they would capture an 8-6 victory. The No. 2 doubles match went to the St. Mary's team of Jamie Lee Denton and Kaylin Kruseman as the Hilltopper duo of
FRANCESCA CHAHER and
IVANA ZECEVIC fought hard, but fell 8-5. With the match tied at 1-1 a piece, the combination of
RAFAELA HAEGELE and
MARISSA WILLIAMS would have a back and forth duel with Delgado and Timm at the No. 3 single match. Despite coming from behind to force a 7-7 tie, Haegele and Williams would lose in an extremely tight 9-7 result.
St. Edward's could not find much momentum in the singles portion of play. Williams dropped her No. 6 singles match to Delgado in 6-1, 6-2 fashion. Zecevic would fall at the No. 3 spot as Denton came away with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. St. Mary's would clinch the match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at the No. 1 spot as Sasha Khadzyhan gave the #33 ranked player in the country Mariana Rong and run for her money.
A disappointed Kendall Brooks spoke with us after the match. She said, "It was not the outcome we wanted, but I really am proud of the way we competed today." Brooks was proud of her team's effort in doubles, "We came out in doubles and really jumped on them early. Brooke and Sasha played great doubles, Ivana and Fran were in it the whole time, and Marissa and Rafa had an opportunity to win their match as well. We really felt like we gave ourselves a chance going in to singles and every player gave it their all."
Brooks also spoke of her team's opportunity to earn a regional bid. "I am really happy that these seniors could come off the court feeling like they left it all out there and if that's our last match of the season I feel good about it. We will have to see how the rankings play out on whether we get in to regionals or not, but we are hopeful that we did what we could to put ourselves in a position to do so. "
St. Edward's wraps up it's regular season with an 11-8 record and several impressive victories over #45 Tarleton State, Western New Mexico, #50 Arkansas Fort Smith, #46 Newman and #43 Dallas Baptist. They will await the announcement as to whether or not they will make the NCAA Regional Tournament early next week. Tune into the St. Edward's Hilltopper Athletic Website for more information.
