CORPUS CHRISTI – Abilene Christian's men's and women's tennis teams Monday each lost their Southland Conference regular-season finales to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. The women were edged, 4-3, for their fourth one-point loss of league play, while the men fell to 6-1 with sophomore
Jonathan Sheehy earning the Wildcats' lone point at the No. 2 singles position.
Sheehy's victory snapped a two-match losing streak as he once again tied his older brother Josh for the team lead in wins with 14. Jon and Josh, along with senior
Henry Adams, all went 3-2 in singles play vs. league opposition this spring.
Following today's loss, the men's record now stands at 14-10 overall and 3-2 vs. the conference. The Wildcats will complete their regular-season next Tuesday (April 24) with a 5 p.m. home men's and women's doubleheader vs. Oklahoma Baptist and then head to Beaumont and Lamar University for their first Southland Conference Championship appearance. The Islanders will be their first-round opponent on Friday, April 28 at 10 a.m.
The ACU women (13-8) appear to be locked into the No. 6 seed with a 7-4 league record. Central Arkansas and Sam Houston State are a half game ahead of the Wildcats in the league standings at 7-3, but each team owns the tiebreaker over ACU. New Orleans is well behind the Wildcats in seventh place with a final record of 4-7.
ACU's first-round opponent at the Southland Conference Championship looks to be Northwestern State (8-2) if the current standings hold throughout this week. The Wildcats handed the Lady Demons their first conference loss of the spring, 4-3, at the Eager Tennis Center on March 30.
McNeese will be the No. 1 seed heading into the eight-team tournament with most of the remaining spots still up for grabs.
Winning today for the Wildcats were No. 1 and 4 singles competitors
Lucile Pothier and
Sarah Eleanor Adams, plus the No. 1 and 2 doubles teams of Pothier /
Nini Memishishi and Adams /
Whitney Williams.
Adams and Williams posted a 6-1 victory over Marina Vicens and Louise Trigona, while the No. 1s won their match in a tiebreak, 7-6 (4) over Hortense Boscher and Luna Dormet.
The Islanders, however, stormed back to win four of the first five singles matches with Dormet earning the clinching point over
Nini Memishishi at No. 3, 6-4, 6-4. This loss snapped an eight-match singles winning streak for the Wildcats' freshman and was only her second defeat in conference play as she finished with a solid 9-2 record (16-5 overall).
Pothier finished the match with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 triumph over Boscher at the top line, which equaled Memishishi's 9-2 conference mark. The senior is 14-6 overall with 13 of those victories taking place at the top position.
For her career, Pothier won 37 of 44 regular-season conference singles matches (.841) and twice was called upon to represent the Southland Conference at the Oracle ITA Masters Tournament at Pepperdine University.
WOMEN
TAMUCC 4, ACU 3
1.
Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Hortense Boscher (AMCC) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
2. Jelena Dzinic (AMCC) def.
Whitney Williams (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Luna Dormet (AMCC) def.
Nini Memishishi (ACU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Sarah Adams (ACU) def. Louise Trigona (AMCC) 6-0, 7-5
5. Marina Vicens (AMCC) def.
Autumn Crossnoe (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
6. Maria Maldonado (AMCC) def.
Ileana Mocciola (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
Singles: Order of Finish – 5,4,6,2,3,1
1.
Lucile Pothier/
Nini Memishishi (ACU) def. Hortense Boscher/Luna Dormet (AMCC) 7-6 (7-4)
2.
Whitney Williams/Sarah Adams (ACU) def. Marina Vicens/Louise Trigona (AMCC) 6-1
3. Jelena Dzinic/Maria Maldonado (AMCC) def.
Autumn Crossnoe/
Ileana Mocciola (ACU) 6-2
Doubles: Order of Finish – 2,3,1
MEN
TAMUCC 6, ACU 1
1. Francois Kellerman (AMCC) def.
Josh Sheehy (ACU) 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
2. Jon Sheehy (ACU) def. William Mottet (AMCC) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. Thomas Rodrigues (AMCC) def.
Henry Adams (ACU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Carlos Pedrosa (AMCC) def. Paul Domanski (ACU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Okkie Kellerman (AMCC) def.
Hunter Holman (ACU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
6. Kyohei Yamanaka (AMCC) def.
Joaquin Delgado (ACU) 6-4, 7-5
Singles: Order of Finish – 3,4,2,5,6,1
1. Francois Kellerman/Okkie Kellerman (AMCC) def.
Josh Sheehy/Paul Domanski (ACU) 6-2
2. William Mottet/Thomas Rodrigues (AMCC) def.
Henry Adams/Jon Sheehy (ACU) 6-1
3. Biyik Akinshemoyin/David Ambrozic (AMCC) vs.
Brad Gleason/
Cole Lawson (ACU) 5-2, unfinished
Doubles: Order of Finish: 2,1
