Tennis teams overcome injuries to sweep Nicholls

ABILENE - Abilene Christian's men's and women's tennis rosters were thinned down some this week due to an influx of injuries, but the Wildcats overcame those setbacks to score a pair of wins over Nicholls Sunday on the outdoor courts of the Eager Tennis Center.

The women's team won its match 6-1 in improving to 9-9 on the season (4-2), and the men were 5-2 victors in getting to 6-8.

"This was a huge victory, especially for the confidence of the men's players" said Director of Tennis Juan Nunez. "They played well Thursday vs. New Orleans with four three-setters but couldn't quite get it done. That score was hard on us with everything happening to our lineup, but that's the way it is in college tennis.

"Now, for us to know that we can win a conference match with two guys out, and pull the No. 8 guy in - that's just a huge confidence booster. You can hear it in the guys. It's a big relief."

ACU won all four of its singles matches vs. Nicholls in straight sets with no opponent scoring above four points. The Wildcats also swept the Colonels in doubles.

The Wildcats' women's team was without its No. 2 and 3 line players on the women's side, which forced several players to play two spots higher than they're accustomed to. But they rose to the challenge in winning five of six singles, including at No. 6 where newcomer Danielle Viljoen posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Nikita Pinto.

She was awarded with the game ball by her coaches and teammates in honor of her first win as a Wildcat.

"Danielle's been a great addition to our team - a dream walk-on," said Nunez. "She knows her role and does it to the best of her ability. She's an incredible practice partner and one of our team's biggest cheerleaders, running from court to court asking her teammates if they need anything. And today we started to see the Danielle we see in practice. She looked comfortable and went out there and took care of business in singles. The whole team was happy for her."

Sophomore Andrea Guerrero won her No. 5 match in three sets over Morgan Forshag,  3-6, 7-6, 10-7 to extend her singles winning streak to four matches. She is now 8-5 on the spring.

ACU's men's team returns to action this weekend with matches at UT Arlington and SMU. The women are off from competition until the weekend of March 26 when they play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Lamar.
 

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Abilene Christian 6, Nicholls 1
Mar 14, 2021 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Nini Memishishi (ACUW) def. Simona Maksimovic (NICH) 6-0, 6-1
2. Allison Stewart (ACUW) def. Carla Bouygues (NICH) 6-0, 6-3
3. Ileana Mocciola (ACUW) def. Laura Lopez (NICH) 6-1, 6-2
4. Nuria Martin Lopez (NICH) def. Claire Fisher (ACUW) 7-5, 7-6
5. Andrea Guerrero (ACUW) def. Morgan Forshag (NICH) 3-6, 7-6, 10-7
6. Danielle Viljoen (ACUW) def. Nikita Pinto (NICH) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. Nini Memishishi/Ileana Mocciola (ACUW) def. Simona Maksimovic/Carla Bouygues (NICH) 6-3
2. Allison Stewart/Claire Fisher (ACUW) def. Laura Lopez/Morgan Forshag (NICH) 6-0
3. Nuria Martin Lopez/Nikita Pinto (NICH) def. Andrea Guerrero/Danielle Viljoen (ACUW) 6-1

Match Notes
Nicholls 4-8 (1-5 SLC)
Abilene Christian 9-9 (4-2 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,6,2,3,5,4)
 

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New Orleans 4, Abilene Christian 3
Mar 12, 2021 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Ank Vullings (UNOW) def. Nini Memishishi (ACUW) 6-3, 7-5
2. Allison Stewart (ACUW) def. Lina Hohnhold (UNOW) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 10-6
3. Mar Gendra (UNOW) def. Ileana Mocciola (ACUW) 7-5, 6-4
4. Claudette Gilhespie (UNOW) def. Claire Fisher (ACUW) 6-3, 6-3
5. Andrea Guerrero (ACUW) def. Salma Abdelrahim (UNOW) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
6. Lea Alguacil (UNOW) def. Danielle Viljoen (ACUW) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Nini Memishishi/Ileana Mocciola (ACUW) def. Lina Hohnhold/Tristanne Dechoux (UNOW) 7-6
2. Allison Stewart/Claire Fisher (ACUW) def. Ank Vullings/Lea Alguacil (UNOW) 7-6
3. Mar Gendra/Salma Abdelrahim (UNOW) def. Andrea Guerrero/Danielle Viljoen (ACUW) 6-1

Match Notes
New Orleans 3-1 (3-0 SLC)
Abilene Christian 8-9 (3-2 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,4,3,1,2,5)
 

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Abilene Christian 5, Nicholls 2
Mar 14, 2021 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Savan Chhabra (ACU) def. P. Surendra Salekar (NICM) 6-3, 6-1
2. Riley Tran (ACU) def. Pavle Drobnjakovic (NICM) 6-3, 6-3
3. Mihaly Deli (ACU) def. Ricardo Machado (NICM) 6-3, 6-3
4. P. Pravin Bagade (NICM) def. Joaquin Delgado (ACU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Jose Maria Rastrojo (ACU) def. Antonio Sasso (NICM) 6-1, 6-4
6. A. Martin-Thiriat (NICM) def. Ryan Flanagan (ACU) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Savan Chhabra/Riley Tran (ACU) def. P. Surendra Salekar/Pavle Drobnjakovic (NICM) 6-2
2. Joaquin Delgado/Oswaldo Cano (ACU) def. Omar Morsy/Ricardo Machado (NICM) 6-4
3. Jose Maria Rastrojo/Mihaly Deli (ACU) def. A. Martin-Thiriat/Antonio Sasso (NICM) 6-4

Match Notes
Nicholls 4-3 (0-1 SLC)
Abilene Christian 6-8 (1-1 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,6,5,3,4,2)
 

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New Orleans 6, Abilene Christian 1
Mar 11, 2021 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Austin Vos (UNO) def. Savan Chhabra (ACU) 6-4, 7-5
2. Max Heinzel (UNO) def. Riley Tran (ACU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
3. Mihaly Deli (ACU) def. Espen Lagarde (UNO) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
4. Marcel Volz (UNO) def. Oswaldo Cano (ACU) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
5. Luke Joujan (UNO) def. Joaquin Delgado (ACU) 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4
6. Johannes Klein (UNO) def. Jose Maria Rastrojo (ACU) 6-7 (3-6), 6-3, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Austin Vos/Espen Lagarde (UNO) def. Savan Chhabra/Riley Tran (ACU) 6-1
2. Misha Fomenkov/Johannes Klein (UNO) def. Joaquin Delgado/Oswaldo Cano (ACU) 7-5
3. Jose Maria Rastrojo/Mihaly Deli (ACU) vs. Mihajlo Drobnjakovic/Max Heinzel (UNO) 6-6, unfinished

Match Notes
New Orleans 2-2 (1-0 SLC)
Abilene Christian 5-8 (0-1 SLC)