RICHARDSON, TX – The Women's Tennis Team of Austin College took the court against the University of Texas at Dallas today and came away with a 6-3 victory and their third in-a-row.
Doubles play started in favor of the Comets as the jumped out to a 2-0 lead after wins on Line 1 and Line 2. But Katie Barber and Carlye Lide came from behind to win 8-5 on court 3 to prevent the doubles sweep. Although the 'Roos were down 1-2 after doubles play, the momentum had swung back in the 'Roos favor before singles competition began.
Austin College jumped out to early first set leads on four courts and narrowly missed out on a fifth when Grace Ortiz lost 7-5 in a tiebreaker. But Ortiz would go on to win the second set 6-3 and the super-tiebreaker for the third 11-9. Not before her teammates would close out all of their second sets to take a 6-2 lead with one court left.
"You hardly ever see something like that," said Head Coach Ryan Dodd. "Not many teams come back from a doubles deficit of any size. But to pair that with five singles wins, especially against a team that beat us 9-0 last year. When this team plays like this, they are one of the toughest outs around."
Magan Green scored the first singles point for the 'Roos 6-1, 6-1 and leveled the score at 2-2. Carlye Lide posted her best singles result of the year 6-0, 6-0 at Line 4 to put AC ahead 3-2.
After winning her first set, Anamariia Kheveli found herself staring down the short end of a 1-4 deficit in the second. But her determination to cut down unforced errors lead to four straight games and six out of seven for a 6-1, 7-5 victory. With the lead now at 4-2, Katie Barber found herself down a break of serve late in her second set 5-6. But in a break back situation, Barber forced a tiebreaker and took the match for the Kangaroos 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
Austin College will return to the Elizabeth Russell Tennis Center to play a rematch against UT-Dallas on Friday, April 17th at 3:00pm.
Austin College 6, The University of Texas at Dallas 3
April 12, 2015
Richardson, TX
UTD Tennis Complex
Singles
1. Casey Johnson (UTD) def. Meghan White (AC) 6-3, 7-5
2. Grace Ortiz (AC) def. Ashwini Kulkarni (UTD) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 1-0 (9)
3. Anamariia Kheveli (AC) def. Katie Purdum (UTD) 6-1, 7-5
4. Carlye Lide (AC) def. Kathy Reed (UTD) 6-0, 6-0
5. Magan Green (AC) def. Kennedi Rose (UTD) 6-1, 6-1
6. Katie Barber (AC) def. Michaela Gulasy (UTD) 6-2, 7-6 (6)
Doubles
1. Johnson/Kulkarni (UTD) def. White/Ortiz (AC) 8-3
2. Gulasy/Purdum (UTD) def. Willis/Kheveli (AC) 8-5
3. Lide/Barber (AC) def. Reed/Rose (UTD) 8-5
Match Notes
Austin College: 5-4 (0-3)
The University of Texas at Dallas: 3-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3) Singles (5, 4, 3, 6, 2, 1)