Women's Tennis | 4/8/2016 7:55:00 PM
Box ScoreARLINGTON, Texas – The bottom half of the lineup for St. Edward's Women's Tennis dominated its matches to propel the Hilltoppers past Arkansas Fort Smith, 7-2 on Friday afternoon at the Arlington Tennis Center.
MARISSA WILLIAMS snapped her eight-match losing streak with a straight-set win to clinch the match.
ELISA GUILLEN won her third-straight match, and the doubles team of
LAURA GALVAN and
IVANA ZECEVIC improved to 23-2 on the year.
The Hilltoppers are now 13-4 overall and undefeated in Heartland Conference contests at 3-0. They also improve to 7-0 in the South Central Region. Fort Smith falls to 2-12 and 0-3.
"Today was a great team win. I felt like everybody was loose, but focused on what we needed to do," said head coach Kendall Brooks. "We had three tough battles in singles with
ANJALI SAMPATH, Laura (Galvan), and Ivana (Zecevic) all pushing their matches to three sets. Marissa's win was big, and much needed. I am very happy for her.
VALENTINA MARTINEZ and Elisa (Guillen) were solid, as they have been all season. I'm excited for tomorrow's match. It's going to be a big one."
It was Guillen and Martinez scoring first, with an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles. The Lions tied it up by winning No. 1, 8-5. However, Zecevic and Galvan gave the Hilltoppers momentum and the lead with an 8-4 win at No. 3.
The 2-1 lead was all St. Edward's needed. Guillen dominated, 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6, and Martinez did the same, 6-3, 6-2 at No 5. With the contest within reach, Williams powered to a 7-5, first-set win, and then brought it home in set two, 6-4.
At 5-1, no more points were needed, but the Hilltoppers took them anyway. Sampath came from behind at No. 1 to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, and Zecevic ground out a three-set win at No. 2. The Lions grabbed a point at No. 4 as a consolation in the loss.
Coach Brooks and her team continue Heartland Conference play on Saturday at the Arlington Tennis Center against 43rd-ranked Newman. The match is set to begin at 10 a.m. Fans can find a full list of scores, stories, and more at GoHilltoppers.com.
