ABILENE – Abilene Christian picked up an important WAC victory on Thursday, topping New Mexico State 4-3.
ACU lost the doubles point but
Maryjoe Crisologo and
Maria Cascos won their fifth consecutive doubles match at No. 2, 6-4.
Andrea Guerrero evened the score at 1-1 with a quick 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles, giving her five consecutive wins.
The Aggies took a 2-1 lead before
Olivia Sears finished off her straight-set win at No. 3 to even the score again.
NMSU led 3-2 heading into the last two matches but
Eva Arranz won at line six, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 and
Maria Cascos sealed the team win with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win at No. 4 to stay perfect in the WAC in singles.
"In a 3-all match there's nobody I'd rather have on the court than Maria," said ACU Head Coach Bryan Rainwater. "She's been a tough freshman. But it took everybody. Up and down day for us. We started slow in doubles and looked like we were defeated as a team but we kept fighting. Masha lost a tough match at one but kept fighting and kept fighting and that's areally big thing for her – to just keep pushing. Our upperclassmen stepped up. MJ worked hard and Andrea took care of business."
The Cats evened their WAC record at 3-3 and welcome Grand Canyon at 11 a.m. on Saturday to finish off the home schedule.
Abilene Christian 4, New Mexico State 3
Singles competition
1. Anna Pinaieva (NMSUW) def.
Masha Vrsalovic (ACU) 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-0
2. Lisa Zhu (NMSUW) def.
Maryjoe Crisologo (ACU) 6-4, 6-3
3.
Olivia Sears (ACU) def. Valeriia Ivanovskaia (NMSUW) 6-4, 6-3
4.
Maria Cascos (ACU) def. Miranda Bishard (NMSUW) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
5.
Andrea Guerrero (ACU) def. Dori Kurdi (NMSUW) 6-0, 6-0
6.
Eva Arranz (ACU) def. Bella Nguyen (NMSUW) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Anna Pinaieva/Lisa Zhu (NMSUW) def.
Masha Vrsalovic/
Olivia Sears (ACU) 6-2
2.
Maryjoe Crisologo/
Maria Cascos (ACU) def. Miranda Bishard/Bella Nguyen (NMSUW) 6-4
3. Valeriia Ivanovskaia/Dori Kurdi (NMSUW) def.
Andrea Guerrero/
Eva Arranz (ACU) 6-3
