The Austin College women's tennis team opened up its fall season at the University of Texas-Dallas in the ASC Fall Invitational.
Amidst low temperatures and the occasional rain shower, the women's tennis team played brilliantly against tough competition in Sul Ross State, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and host Texas-Dallas.
"We have a special group of women, here at Austin College," first-year head coach Ryan Dodd said. "And it takes a special group of women to take one week of practice and play as hard and finish as successfully as we did in this weekend's tournament."
The 'Roos opened play on Friday night with Singles Flights against Sul Ross State and Mary Hardin Baylor in-between weather delays. The team split Flights one through six 3-3, claiming two of three matches in Flights one through three against Sul Ross State, and 1 of 3 matches in Flights four through six against Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Cierra White played masterfully, ripping inside-in forehands into the deuce court and approaching with confidence in her opening match, as Kate Willis dug her heels into the court and did not back down against a tough Sul Ross opponent in her opener.
First-year Grace Ortiz started her singles career off with a win against a tough Flight five opponent from Mary Hardin-Baylor, keeping her groundstrokes deep and limiting unforced errors from the baseline.
Play would be suspended after singles competition concluded, and the top three flights of singles would not resume versus Mary Hardin-Baylor due to time constraints and travel arrangements.
What would resume would be the team's resiliency and strong play on the singles courts against host University of Texas-Dallas. After three hard-fought doubles flight matches against Mary Hardin-Baylor, the women would come out on fire to claim 5 of 6 matches in singles competition against UTD.
"I expected nothing close to that performance," said Dodd. "We were near flawless. We were striking the ball clean, transitioning our weight into our targets, moving our feet quickly -- everything was firing on all cylinders. The energy from both the men's and women's teams this weekend was high, but I feel great about where our women's team is going into ITA Regionals next weekend."
Ortiz and Katie Barber would stay undefeated in their singles debuts, and White would not drop a match all tournament, staying perfect in singles and in doubles with partner Willis. Willis would also stay perfect on the weekend.
The 'Roos are back in action this weekend at SCAC Conference member Trinity University in the ITA Fall Regional Tournament, which runs September 19-21.
Flight One Singles:
A. Gallard (SRS) def. Meghan White (AC) 6-1, 6-2
Cierra White (AC) def. Ashwini Kulkarni (UTD) 7-6 (4), 6-2
Flight Two Singles:
Cierra White (AC) def. H. Scholz (SRS) 6-4, 6-4
Kate Willis (AC) def. Sabrina Barnfield (UTD) 6-4, 6-0
Flight Three Singles:
Kate Willis (AC) def. M. Centu (SRS) 7-5, 6-1
Grace Ortiz (AC) def. Aliese Thompson (UTD) 6-2, 6-2
Flight Four Singles:
Haley Hicks (MHB) def. Anamariia Khevelli (AC) 7-6 (4), 6-3
Katie Purdum (UTD) def. Magan Green (AC) 6-1, 6-0
Flight Five Singles:
Grace Ortiz (AC) def. Paola Nunez 6-3, 6-4
Carlye Lide (AC) def. Thuy Ho (UTD) 6-1, 6-2
Flight Six Singles:
Sarah Sedory (MHB) def. Magan Green (AC) 6-0, 6-2
Katie Barber (AC) def. Anh Ho (UTD) 6-3, 6-2
Flight One Doubles:
Cierra White/Kate Willis (AC) def. Hannah Warren/Paola Nunez (MHB) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10)
Flight Two Doubles:
Lizzie Ostroff/Haley Hicks (MHB) def. Meghan White/Grace Ortiz (AC) 6-0, 6-2
Flight Three Doubles:
Angelie Juaneza/Sarah Sedory (MHB) def. Carlye Lid/Magan Green 7-5, 6-2