Women's Tennis | 3/29/2016 9:56:00 AM
ABILENE – Starting with Wednesday's 4 p.m. make-up game with Northwestern State, Abilene Christian women's tennis will face five Southland Conference opponents through next Monday, four of which will be on the road.
The Wildcats were to have played the Lady Demons at home on March 13, but the dual was rescheduled after Northwestern State was unable to leave its hometown of Natchitoches, La., after floodwaters impacted travel along I20.
After the postponement, ACU hit the road for what was going to be a three-match Spring Break trip, but after losing 4-3 at Southeastern and beating Nicholls 6-1, the Wildcats had their dual at New Orleans suspended after heavy rains affected singles play. ACU leads its match with the Privateers, 1-0, thanks to a win in doubles, but the remainder of the dual has yet to be rescheduled.
It's not likely ACU would squeeze UNO onto this trip, because following their home match vs. Northwestern State the Wildcats will crisscross southern Texas with four-consecutive matches Friday through Monday at Incarnate Word, Sam Houston State, Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
ACU is a combined 7-3 against these five schools since joining the Southland Conference in 2014. The Wildcats are undefeated against Incarnate Word with two shut out victories, and have twice beaten Sam Houston by scores of 6-1 and 7-0. The matches against Lamar, however, have been much closer with the Wildcats winning 4-3 in 2014 and 5-2 in 2015.
The Lady Demons have twice defeated ACU by narrow margins, and the Islanders are 1-1 vs. the Wildcats, following a 6-1 win with a 6-1 loss. Northwestern State was last year's Southland tournament champion and its runner-up in 2014.
ACU is 13-5 overall and 3-1 vs. the Southland Conference with all three of its wins coming against teams that finished above them in last year's standings: Nicholls, Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State. The Wildcats beat the Ladyjacks 4-3 at home prior to Spring Break and tackled the Cowgirls, 5-2, last Friday.
Key to the Wildcats' win was senior
Kaysie Hermsdorf's 6-4, 7-6 win at No. 2 over All-Conference honoree Julia Kral to break at 2-2 tie, and sophomore
Whitney Williams coming all the way back from a 6-3, 5-2 deficit to shock Charoline Erlandsson at No. 5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 for the match-clinching point
ACU received the doubles point and wins at No. 3 and 1 from sophomore
Lucile Pothier and junior
Erin Walker. Pothier a winner of eight-straight matches - gave ACU a 2-0 lead following her 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Sarah Jurakova, and Walker scored the final point, hanging on to beat Southland Freshman of the Year candidate Giovanna Fioretti, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2).
With four singles wins Friday, ACU is now 68-52 (.567) on the spring while its doubles record is a solid 46-28 (.622).
The Wildcats won their third-consecutive doubles point to begin the match with the tandem of Pothier and Hermsdorf winning their sixth-straight match together, 6-1, at No. 2 over Erlandsson and Kral. Senior
Nada Marjanovic and sophomore
Andrea Crook were off the court minutes later at No. 3 after dispatching Hannah Brett and Anastasija Trubich, 6-2.
Marjanovic leads ACU with 16 singles' victories despite having her seven-match winning streak snapped vs. McNeese. Pothier is 14-6 on the spring and Williams has won her last five decisions in improving to 11-5.
