TYLER, Texas – Abilene Christian's women's tennis team Saturday captured the Southland Conference regular-season title following a 4-3 win over the league's defending regular-season and tournament champions from McNeese at the Faulkner Tennis Center. The match-clinching point was recorded by freshman
Allison Stewart, whose 15-9 regular-season single record includes a perfect 11-0 showing against Southland competition at the No. 5 position.
Stewart also represented one half of the deciding doubles point with senior
Jordan Henry. Together they edged the tandem of Dalia Ahmed and Sofia San Jose Moreno, 7-6 (8). This razor-thin result came after the Wildcats (14-9, 10-1 Southland) lost a brief lead as senior Autumn Bellow's and sophomore
Ileana Mocciola's 6-2 win at No. 2 was followed by Marija Mastilovic and Charoline Erlandsson beating sophomore
Nini Memishishi and junior
Sarah Adams, 6-4, at No. 1.
Bellow and Mocciola now lead the Wildcats with 15 doubles wins together, while Stewart and Henry are 6-4.
Bellow went on to give ACU a 2-0 lead with her 12th win of the spring, beating Mastilovic, 6-2, 6-2, but the Cowgirls twice rallied to tie the score at 2-2 and 3-3. McNeese (11-9, 6-5 Southland) first recorded consecutive straight-set wins at the No. 4 and 1 positions, and then tied the score a second time following Fioretti's 6-4, 6-4 decision over Adams at No. 2. In between the Wildcats received a 6-2, 6-1 win from Mocciola at No. 6, which was her 13th win overall and eighth of the conference season.
Stewart then held off Moreno for the deciding point, 6-2, 7-5, in becoming the first Wildcat to register a perfect Southland Conference regular-season since
Lucile Pothier (11-0 at No. 3 and 4) and current graduate assistant coach
Whitney Williams (11-0 at No. 5) both did so for the 2016 team that finished 9-2.
Today's match was played at a neutral-site location since the original date in Lake Charles, La. was washed out in early March.
The Wildcats' conference crown is the program's first since 2013 when they were in their final season as members of the NCAA DII Lone Star Conference. It's also the first won by first-year head coach
John Walker as his squad posted the program's first-ever 10-win conference record.
Action begins at the
Southland Conference Championship Tournament Thursday, April 25 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lamar will serve as ACU's first-round opponent at 2 p.m. with the winner set to face either No. 4 Sam Houston State or the fifth-seeded Islanders. The top half of the bracket features No. 3 Central Arkansas vs. No. 6 McNeese and No. 2 Northwestern State vs. No. 7 New Orleans. UCA was the only conference team to defeat the Wildcats this spring.
Abilene Christian 4, McNeese 3
Apr 20, 2019 at Tyler, Texas (Faulkner Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Charoline Erlandsson (MCN) def.
Nini Memishishi (ACU) 6-4, 6-3
2. Giovanna Fioretti (MCN) def.
Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-4, 6-4
3.
Autumn Crossnoe Bellow (ACU) def. Marija Mastilovic (MCN) 6-2, 6-2
4. Dalia Ahmed (MCN) def.
Jordan Henry (ACU) 7-5, 6-0
5.
Allison Stewart (ACU) def. Sofia Moreno (MCN) 6-2, 7-5
6.
Ileana Mocciola (ACU) def. Carlotta Romito (MCN) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Marija Mastilovic/Charoline Erlandsson (MCN) def.
Nini Memishishi/
Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-4
2.
Autumn Crossnoe Bellow/
Ileana Mocciola (ACU) def. Giovanna Fioretti/Carlotta Romito (MCN) 6-2
3.
Allison Stewart/
Jordan Henry (ACU) def. Dalia Ahmed/Sofia Moreno (MCN) 7-6 (8-6)
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 14-9 (10-1 SLC)
McNeese 11-9 (6-5 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,1,6,2,5)
T-3:30 A-100
