ABILENE - Abilene Christian's nationally ranked tennis programs will end their respective regular seasons in challenging fashion this weekend as they face four Southern California-based teams in and around Los Angeles.
The Wildcats begin their trek with a Friday morning doubleheader vs. NAIA powerhouse Azusa Pacific whose men's and women's teams are a combined 31-3. Then on Saturday, the ACU men head up the Pacific Coast Highway to battle No. 8 Pepperdine (16-6), while the women visit 17th-ranked Cal State Los Angeles (13-4).
Sunday the Wildcats face a UC San Diego program that's ranked 19th on the men's side (12-9) and 21st on the women's (6-11).
Winners of eight of the their last nine, the ACU men enter this weekend with an overall record of 16-7, and most recently scored a 6-3 win over Lone Star Conference and regional rival Midwestern State. The Wildcats began that match down a point after losing two of three doubles contests, but went on to capture five of six singles victories.
Freshman Borja Cortes clinched the dual with his sixth straight win at No. 3 singles, coming from behind to beat Colby Meeks, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Victories also were attained by nationally ranked
Hans Hach at No. 1, senior
Nick Plum at No. 2, veteran
Alfredo Desiati at No. 4, and rookie
Guilherme Gesser, who rallied to defeat Jarrod Liston, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).
Hach's win at No. 1 was his team-best 18th of the year. He and Plum also improved to 8-0 when playing at No. 1 doubles.
ACU's women's team continued to roll last week behind its 9-0 win over the Mustangs. The 19-3 Wildcats head into this weekend as winners of 11 of its last 12 duals, and all of those victories have come by five or more points.
The only ACU opponent this season to score more than two points during an ACU victory was Tennessee-Martin, which lost 4-3 on Feb. 23. Since then the Wildcats have defeated all their DII opponents by a margin of 8-1 or 9-0, and all but one of their DI foes by either a 6-1 or 7-0 score.
Brittney Reed leads the Wildcats with 19 wins, but the longest winning streak belongs to top-line player
Julia Mongin, who has won 11 straight since her last loss on Feb. 12 at Lamar.
Emily Conrad,
Micah Hermsdorf, and
Laura Mongin are all tied for second on the team with 18 wins, while
Hannah Kelley is 13-2.
Felicity Delgado and
Madelyn Walker are a combined 13-2 when playing between the No. 5 and 6 positions.
The Wildcats are led in doubles by their 11th-ranked duo of Hermsdorf and Kelley (11-2), and Julia and
Laura Mongin (8-0). The ACU coaches this spring have utilized 20 doubles combinations, which have combined for a 54-11 record.
