RICHARDSON, Tx - The Kangaroo Women's Tennis Team travelled to the campus of the University of Texas-Dallas to compete in an exhibition round-robin tournament hosted by the Comets.
Also in attendance was a familiar team from the 2014-15 campaign; the Texas A&M University-Texarkana Eagles.
Friday evening did not go well for the 'Roos in their first round of singles competition against UT-D, dropping all 6 flights. Though Saturday morning would start in the same fashion, the matches were competitive and at the conclusion of the tournament, the 'Roos would learn from early mistakes to put together their best performances of the weekend.
"This kind of competition is great for our ladies," commented Ryan Dodd in his second year as Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach for Austin College. "You hit against your teammates for two consecutive weeks and you learn their tendencies, and begin to get complacent in your gameplan. We needed some fresh-faced competition to keep us hungy in practice next week and give us new tactics to work on in practice."
Only 2 match-deciding "Super Tiebreakers" would be played this weekend (both won by Magan Green), but 4 set tiebreakers were played, and Brenna McCown notched her first win as a Kangaroo Women's Tennis Player while Kirsten Weber got her first look at "A-Draw Quality Tennis" in her first competition of what looks to be a promising career.
"Sometimes it's good to take your lumps in a setting like this," added Coach Dodd. Better now than next week, and a dose of humility reveals your true character as a Student-Athlete. How do you come back from a loss? Did you learn anything about yourself? Or are you lacking in mental toughness. I can tell you for certain we'll be out there working on Monday to correct the mistakes we made this weekend and duplicate our successes."
AC returns to action this weekend in Georgetown, TX at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships hosted by Southwestern, University from Thursday, September 17th to Sunday, September 20th.
Flight 1 Doubles
Iyengar/Tran (UTD) def. White/Ortiz (AC) 6-3, 6-3
Keylon/Lench (TAMU-T) def. Willis/Weber (AC) 6-2, 6-2
Flight 2 Doubles
Farmer/Moore (UTD) def. Willis/Weber (AC) 6-3, 6-0
Lide/Barber (AC) def. Langford/Cates (TAMU-T) 6-0, 6-3
Flight 3 Doubles
Labra/Kulkarni (UTD) def. Lide/Barber (AC) 6-2, 6-2
Kheveli/Green (AC) def. Wren/Finnley (TAMU-T) 6-1, 1-6, 1-0 (2)
Flight 4 Doubles
Foster/Wilbanks (TAMU-T) def. White/McCown (AC) 6-3
Flight 1 Singles
Sumvruta Iyengar (UTD) def. Meghan White (AC) 6-2, 6-2
Daejia Lench (TAMU-T) def. Kirsten Weber (AC) 6-4, 6-2
Flight 2 Singles
Auvi Tran (UTD) def. Grace Ortiz (AC) 6-3, 6-0
Anamariia Kheveli (AC) def. Bailey Cates (TAMU-T) 6-1, 6-0
Flight 3 Singles
Sophie Farmer (UTD) def. Kirsten Weber (AC) 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1)
Magan Green (AC) def. Whitley Langford (TAMU-T) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (9)
Flight 4 Singles
Crystal Moore (UTD) def. Anamariia Kheveli (AC) 7-5, 6-2
Carlye Lide (AC) def. Natalie Keylon (TAMU-T) 6-4, 6-1
Flight 5 Singles
Elizabeth Labra (UTD) def. Kate Willis (AC) 6-0, 6-0
Katie Barber (AC) def. Sarah Wilbanks (TAMU-T) 7-6 (9), 7-6 (4)
Flight 6 Singles
Ashwini Kulkarni (UTD) def. Brenna McCown (AC) 6-0, 6-1
Brenna McCown (AC) def. Diane Wren (TAMU-T) 6-1, 7-5