Freshmen Come Through for 4-3 Win

ABILENE – With the pressure on two freshmen, Maria Cascos and Olivia Sears came through with singles wins to give Abilene Christian a 4-3 win over Texas-San Antonio on Saturday.
 
UTSA had closed an early Wildcats lead to 2-2 with two ACU freshmen still on the court.
 
Cascos was able to close out her opponent, 6-2, 6-3, in line five singles but UTSA tied it again with a win at No. 4.
 
Sears had the eyes of the team on her after winning the first set 7-5. She responded in the second set after trailing 4-3, with a pair of service breaks for the 6-4 win. Her teammates mobbed her, chanting her nickname, 'Oli', with enthusiasm.
 
"Honestly, hats off to UTSA for coming in with five and taking it to us," said ACU Head Coach Bryan Rainwater. "Really happy with our two freshmen today: Maria and Olivia. They toughed out two big matches. The team did the same thing all the way down: kept putting the ball in play over and over again and those two never wavered."
 
The Wildcats had a forfeit win at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles and captured the doubles point with Maria Cascos and Maryjoe Crisologo winning at No. 2 doubles, 6-3.
 
"Huge win in doubles from MJ and Maria," Rainwater said. "UTSA has really good one and two players so we knew it was going to be tough. Really good team win even on a day that we didn't feel like we played our best."
 
The Wildcats now head to Lubbock to battle Texas Tech in a 10 a.m. contest on Sunday.
 
ACU 4, UTSA 3
Singles
Aleksandra Zlatarova, UTSA, def. Maryjoe Crisologo, 6-2, 6-0
Alexandra Weir, UTSA, def. Masha Vrsalovic, 6-0, 6-2
Olivia Sears, ACU, def. Fatima Gutierrez, 7-5, 6-4
Magda Tuells, UTSA, def. Andrea Guerrero, 6-3, 6-4
Maria Cascos, ACU, def. Eva Beyebach, 6-2, 6-3
Eva Arranz, win by forfeit
Doubles
Zlatarova/Gutierrez, UTSA, def. Sears/Vrsalovic, 6-3
Cascos/Crisologo, ACU, def. Tuells/Beyebach, 6-3
Arranz/Guerrero, ACU, won by forfeit