Women's Tennis | 4/14/2016 2:57:00 PM
Texas A&M Live Stats | Video ABILENE – Abilene Christian tennis is back on the road this weekend to complete their regular-season schedules following Wednesday's home sweep of Midwestern State on Senior Night.
The Wildcat men (18-8, 2-2 Southland) start competition Friday with a noon dual at No. 11 Texas A&M and will then head to Houston and Rice University to meet the ACU women (19-6, 8-2 Southland) and complete their Southland Conference matches against New Orleans.
ACU was to have played the Privateers near the end of Spring Break week on March 18, but the duals were washed out due to rain following the completion of doubles. The Wildcat women took a 1-0 lead on UNO after collecting wins at No. 1 and 2 doubles with
Erin Walker and
Whitney Williams winning, 6-3, and the No. 2 duo of
Lucile Pothier and
Kaysie Hermsdorf posting a 6-1 victory.
The ACU men were fairly dominant in winning at No. 2 and 3 doubles.
Paul Domanski and
Jason Proctor shutout UNO's No. 2 tandem, 6-0, and the rookie combination of
Josh Sheehy and
Sebastian Langdon was a 6-1 victor at No. 3.
Saturday's duals are the last ones of the Southland Conference regular season, and the outcomes will affect both the final standings and tournament seeds. ACU and UNO are tied for third place on the men's side at 2-2, while on the women's side, an ACU victory would drop the Privateers into a four-way tie for third place with McNeese, Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State at 7-4.
UNO defeated McNeese, 5-2, earlier this week, but lost to both SFA and Northwestern State. ACU beat all three of those schools, but a loss to the Privateers would drop them into third place at 8-3.
The Wildcat women are 2-0 all-time vs. New Orleans since joining the Southland, beating the Privateers 5-2 in 2014, and 4-1 at home last spring.
ACU's men beat UNO in their first meeting, 5-2, but lost 4-3 last year at the Eager Tennis Pavilion after the Privateers followed their doubles win with singles victories at No. 4, 5 and 6. ACU's top three players all won that afternoon, including returning starters Proctor and Agritelley.
Before getting to Houston, the Wildcat men will have to battle their 10th nationally ranked opponent of the season and third top-20 opponent in Texas A&M. ACU also has faced No. 12 Texas, No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 34 Baylor this season.
The Aggies are 23-7 overall and 7-3 vs. the SEC with their conference finale vs. LSU taking place following their dual with the Wildcats.
A&M has won its last three matches and is led by No. 16 Arthur Rinderknech and No. 52 Shane Vinsant in singles, and in doubles by four nationally ranked tandems, including No. 19 Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow.
