Women's Tennis wins third-straight Southland dual; Agritelley victorious in loss to Corpus

Men's Tennis | 4/15/2015 11:08:00 PM

ABILENE - One day shy of being a year removed from a 6-1 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Abilene Christian women's tennis team avenged that defeat Wednesday night on a near-perfect evening in front of its largest crowd of the season by defeating the Islanders for its third-straight Southland Conference victory, 4-3.

The victory lifted the Wildcats' overall record to 11-6 and clinched their second-consecutive winning season in league play at 6-4. They will play their final Southland dual Friday evening at Central Arkansas before concluding their 2015 campaign next week in picturesque Ojai, Calif.

ACU started its dual with back-to-back doubles wins at No. 2 and 1. Freshman Whitney Williams and Erin Walker speedily won their match at No. 2, 8-3, over Jelena Dzinic and Chelsea Horan, but the No. 1 duo of senior Brittney Reed and junior Kaysie Hermsdorf had to claw their way back from several deficits.

After getting down 5-3, Reed and Hermsdorf twice rallied to tie the score at 5-5 and 6-6 before taking their first lead of the night at 7-6. They went on to break the serve of Celia Rodriguez and Judit Vives in the final game to win 8-6 and improve to 16-2 overall and 7-1 vs. the Southland.

Walker and Williams also are 7-1 against league teams as they helped the Wildcats finish the spring undefeated at home at 8-0.

Walker continued to cruise on the singles court, winning for the third-straight time at No. 2 following a victory over Vives, 6-3, 6-3. That win lifted her season and No. 2 marks to 12-6 and 6-1, but the clubhouse leader in wins with 13 is still junior Nada Marjanovic, who earned the team's second point after rolling past Kerry Galhos, 6-4, 6-2.

The Wildcats had to wait some time to win that fourth point and the dual as Reed went on to lose at No. 1, while the No. 3-5 matches all were pushed to a third set. 

Hermsdorf and Williams each won their first sets at No. 3 and 4, but couldn't finish off their opposition in the second set. But at No. 5, freshman Lucile Pothier - with a little encouragement from former Wildcat Julia Mongin - came back from a set down to defeat Chelsea Horan in rather convincing fashion, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Pothier's win was her third straight and 12th of the spring, keeping her tied with Walker for second place.

On the men's side of the court, the Wildcats lost for the second-straight year to the 57th-ranked Islanders, 5-2.

Ricardo Mayagoitia and Paul Cook got their team off to a good start with a win at No. 3 doubles, but it wasn't easy for the Islanders to clinch the doubles point as they were continually pressed by the ACU duos at No. 1 and 2.

The Wildcats' No. 1 team of Guilherme Gesser and Nico Agritelley started the match down a point and could never take the lead despite tying the score on several occasions. And at No. 2, the team of Henry Adams and Jason Proctor were engaged in a see-saw battle with Kevin Bettendroffer and Guillaume Rauseo before it was left unfinished with the Wildcats trailing, 6-5.

The Islanders pushed their lead to 3-0 with straight-set victories at No. 2 and 4, but had their celebration temporarily delayed when sophomore Nico Agritelley held on to beat Rauseo, 6-2, 7-6 (2) at No. 3.

Agritelley trailed Rauseo 5-2 in the second set before storming all the way back to claim his sixth-straight victory. The Dallas native is now 18-7 overall and finished conference play at 5-0.

The Wildcats' second and final point was earned by junior Marco Bensley, who improved to 14-9 overall following his 6-2, 7-6 (3) decision over Cook.

Guilherme Gesser looked impressive in his first set tonight, beating Peter Nagy, 6-0, but the ITA's 97th nationally ranked player battled back to beat the Wildcat senior in the next two games, 6-3, 6-2.

The ACU men conclude their homestand Thursday with a 5 p.m. match vs. its neighbors from Hardin-Simmons.
 

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#57 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 5, Abilene Christian 2
Apr 15, 2015 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Pavilion) 

Singles competition
1. #97 Peter Nagy (AMCC) def. Guilherme Gesser (ACU) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) def. Jason Proctor (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Nico Agritelley (ACU) def. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) 6-2, 7-6 (6-2)
4. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) def. Henry Adams (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
5. Javier Pujol (AMCC) def. Paul Domanski (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Marco Bensley (ACU) def. Paul Cook (AMCC) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)

Doubles competition
1. Arthur Bedel/Peter Nagy (AMCC) def. Guilherme Gesser/Nico Agritelley (ACU) 8-6
2. Henry Adams/Jason Proctor (ACU) vs. Kevin Bettendroffer/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) 5-6, unfinished
3. Ricardo Mayagoitia/Paul Cook (AMCC) def. Paul Domanski/Marco Bensley (ACU) 8-4

Match Notes
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 15-6 (4-0 SLC)
Abilene Christian 9-16 (1-4 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,2,3,1,5,6)
 

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Abilene Christian 4, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 3
Apr 15, 2015 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Pavilion) 

Singles competition
1. Jelena Dzinic (AMCC) def. Brittney Reed (ACU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Erin Walker (ACU) def. Judit Vives (AMCC) 6-3, 6-3
3. Celia Rodriguez (AMCC) def. Kaysie Hermsdorf (ACU) 1-6, 6-0, 6-3
4. Maider Martin (AMCC) def. Whitney Williams (ACU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
5. Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Chelsea Horan (AMCC) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. Nada Marjanovic (ACU) def. Kerry Galhos (AMCC) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Brittney Reed/Kaysie Hermsdorf (ACU) def. Celia Rodriguez/Judit Vives (AMCC) 8-6
2. Erin Walker/Whitney Williams (ACU) def. Jelena Dzinic/Chelsea Horan (AMCC) 8-3
3. Carli Knezevich/Lucile Pothier (ACU) vs. Maider Martin/Venesa Figueroa (AMCC) 6-5, unfinished

Match Notes
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 11-8 (5-4 SLC)
Abilene Christian 11-6 (6-4 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,2,1,5,3,4)