Women's Tennis | 2/3/2016 10:11:00 PM
ABILENE, Texas – St. Edward's Women's Tennis opened its season on Wednesday by shutting out McMurry, 9-0 before falling to NCAA Division I Abilene Christian, 7-0. This is the first shutout victory for the Hilltoppers on opening day since 2001.
All 18 matches played on Wednesday were decided in straight sets.
ELISA GUILLEN led the way against McMurry with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Zayra Gomez at no. 5 singles. In doubles play,
IVANA ZECEVIC and
LAURA GALVAN won both of their matches to move to 10-1 on the year.
MARISSA WILLIAMS and
ANJALI SAMPATH shut out their McMurry opponent, 8-0.
While the Hilltoppers move to 1-1 on the season and Zecevic and Galvan improve to 10-1 in doubles, Williams improves to 8-4 in singles. Galvan is right behind her at 7-3.
"I thought today was a great way to start our season. We came out this morning and executed really well," said head coach Kendall Brooks. "There's always a lot of nerves in the opening match, and I felt like the girls all went out and played confidently. They took care of business. In the afternoon match versus ACU, my challenge for them was to go out and get better, no matter what the outcome. I really think we did that. We will take the experience and go back to work to prepare for our match on Saturday."
McMurry: 9-0 (Full Results)In addition to Guillen's bagels at the five spot in singles, Zecevic took down Chloe Patterson, 6-2, 6-4 at the no. 1 spot while Williams went 6-0, 6-2 over Bree Brosig at no. 2. Galvan only surrendered one game to Samantha Munoz on the way to a 6-0, 6-1 victory, and
VALENTINA MARTINEZ did the same at no. 4.
VANESSA CAMARA rounded out singles play with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win over Brianna Perez.
In doubles, while Sampath and Williams were shutting out their opponent, Martinez and Guillen were dominating the team of Patterson and Gomez, 8-1. The 8-2 win for Zecevic and Galvan completed the shutout.
Abilene Christian: 0-7 (Full Results)The second match of the day was played under NCAA Division I rules. This means that the doubles round is played in a best-out-of-three format for one point. While Zecevic and Galvan rolled past their opponent, 6-1, in the no. 3 spot, it was not enough to take the point as Abilene Christian took the no. 1 and no. 2 matches easily.
In singles, Zecevic was able to take four games from her oppoenent in the first set, but could not pull off the victory, falling 6-4, 6-1. Martinez and Guillen also both took four games each in their first set, but also fell 6-4, 6-2, and 6-4, 6-1. The Hilltoppers combined to take three additional games off of the Wildcats to close the day.
Coach Brooks and her team return to the court on Saturday, closer to home, against Southwestern in Georgetown, Texas. The match is slated for a 1:30 p.m. start with the men's and women's teams both in action. Fans can follow St. Edward's Women's Tennis on Twitter at @SEUWomensTennis.
