ABILENE – Abilene Christian's third-ranked women's tennis team will be at home and on the road in San Antonio this weekend for a series of matches against four Texas schools.
The Wildcats (13-5, 3-0 LSC) begin play Saturday with a 9 a.m./4 p.m. doubleheader vs. Texas-El Paso (8-7) and Texas-Permian Basin (6-4) at the Eager Tennis Pavilion. Morning temperatures are expected to be in the low-to-mid 50's, but will rise to the high 70's by the late afternoon.
On Sunday, ACU will meet up with the Wildcats' 14th-ranked men's team in San Antonio, where they will face St. Mary's (9 a.m.) and Texas-San Antonio (2:30 p.m.). The Wildcats' match vs. UTSA will be played at the Fair Oaks Ranch Country Club.
ACU went 3-0 last season vs. St. Mary's, Permian Basin and UTEP, winning by a combined score of 24-1. The Wildcats defeated USTA, 7-0, in their most recent meeting in 2011.
ACU's dual at No. 48 St. Mary's (11-3, 3-0 Heartland) is the most important of the weekend since it also doubles as a South Central regional match. The Wildcats are currently the No. 1 team in the region, while the Rattlers are ranked eighth. St. Mary's is led by No. 28 Marianna Rong, who lost to ACU's
Julia Mongin, 6-0, 6-1, in the championship match of last fall's regional championships.
The Rattlers enter this weekend in the midst of an eight-match winning streak that has lasted all of March. Their last loss was a 5-4 decision vs. Northeastern State on Feb. 28.
ACU, meanwhile, is coming off a solid 6-3 victory earned Wednesday at No. 40 Midwestern State. The Wildcats came within a point of sweeping all three doubles matches from the Mustangs, and then won four singles matches at the No. 1, 2, 4 and 6 positions despite playing without senior
Laura Mongin, who is recovering from an injury.
Laura Mongin currently leads the Wildcats with 11 singles' victories and is 10-1 with three doubles partners. Seven of those wins have come alongside freshman
Kaysie Hermsdorf.
As a team, ACU is a combined 74-31 (.705) in singles and 42-9 (.824) in doubles. Seven different Wildcat combinations are 15-3 at the No. 1 doubles position, while the No. 3 duos have only lost twice through 16 matches.
