ABILENE - After starting Southland Conference play a little more than a week ago with three straight road victories, the Abilene Christian women's tennis team Saturday suffered its second single-point home loss in as many days to a league foe.
Yesterday's heartbreaker came against the defending tournament champions from Northwestern State, and today it was the Ladyjacks of SFA who came back from a point down to escape the Eager Tennis Pavilion with a 4-3 triumph.
The victory moved SFA ahead of ACU in the Southland standings by one game as the Ladyjacks improved to 4-1 against the league and to 8-6 overall, while the Wildcats fell to 3-2 and 11-4. Northwestern State and McNeese State continue to lead the league with undefeated marks of 5-0 and 4-0, respectively.
The McNeese Cowgirls will come to Abilene in two weeks (April 5) for a Southland Conference doubleheader with Nicholls State. Match times are 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Today the Wildcats played exceedingly well in doubles after losing two of three yesterday to the Lady Demons. Senior
Emily Conrad and
Nada Marjanovic wrapped their 8-1 win at No. 3 over Denise Maxl and Macarena Acosta in about a half hour, and some time later Micah and
Kaysie Hermsdorf completed their 8-5 win at No. 1 over Malena Gordo and Julia Lorca, which gave the home team a 1-0 lead going into singles.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats' momentum did not last long as ACU lost four of its six first sets and soon afterward back-to-back decisions at No. 2 and 6 that put SFA ahead at 2-1. Sophomore
Nada Marjanovic pulled the Wildcats back into a short-lived 2-2 tie with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 5 over Andrea Ternera, but SFA's Valeria Terentyeva gave her team the lead for good as she managed to prevent a third set against
Erin Walker at No. 4 with a 6-1, 7-6 victory.
Terentyeva surrendered a significant lead to Walker midway through the second set, but won the final two points after going down 6-5.
Lorca came back several times as well during her match-clinching win at No. 3 over
Kaysie Hermsdorf. The Ladyjack junior from Lyon, France dropped the first set, 6-3, but won the second-set tiebreaker before rallying from deficits of 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 in the third set to win 6-4.
Micah Hermsdorf won her match at No. 1 against Gordo, 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-2 after the dual had been decided. Micah's win lifted her dual record to 12-3, which includes a 4-1 mark against Southland No. 1's.
In doubles, Micah and her sister are an impressive 13-1 at the top position.
Stephen F. Austin 4, Abilene Christian 3
Mar 22, 2014 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Pavilion)
Singles competition
1.
Micah Hermsdorf (ACU) def. Malena Gordo (SFA) 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-2
2. Denise Maxl (SFA) def.
Brittney Reed (ACU) 6-1, 6-0
3. Julia Lorca (SFA) def.
Kaysie Hermsdorf (ACU) 3-6, 7-6, 6-4
4. Valeria Terentyeva (SFA) def.
Erin Walker (ACU) 6-1, 7-6
5.
Nada Marjanovic (ACU) def. Andrea Ternera (SFA) 6-4, 6-3
6. Laura Servise (SFA) def.
Emily Conrad (ACU) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles competition
1.
Micah Hermsdorf/
Kaysie Hermsdorf (ACU) def. Malena Gordo/Julia Lorca (SFA) 8-5
2. Laura Servise/Rachel Pierce (SFA) def.
Erin Walker/
Brittney Reed (ACU) 8-6
3.
Emily Conrad/
Nada Marjanovic (ACU) def. Denise Maxl/Macarena Acosta (SFA) 8-1
Match Notes
Stephen F. Austin 8-6 (4-1 SLC)
Abilene Christian 11-4 (3-2 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,6,5,4,3,1)
T-4:30 A-100
