SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - The end of the 2016-17 Women's Tennis Regular Season came with a defeat to the Trinity University Tigers by a score of 8-1. Although the score may not register as a closely contested match, it was the "eye test" that can truly determine the caliber of competitiveness the Kangaroo Women showed in the midst of a nationally ranked opponent.
The Tigers began the day by sweeping doubles 3-0. Line 1 was back-and-forth as Kirsten Weber and Grace Ortiz grabbed an early lead against the Fall ITA Runners-Up and fought hard for an 8-4 decision against a common opponent from earlier in the year. The instincts of the Tigers doubles team at the net was a spectacle to behold, and the young Kangaroo tandem will most assuredly retain what they saw and replicate it in future practices.
Katie Seibert and Anamariia Kheveli had leads going into several changeovers but did not have the shotmaking ability nor the aggressiveness at the net to keep their opponents deep in the court in the majority of their attacking opportunities.
Singles was a grind as all players were rallying heavy with their opponents deep into each rally. Kirsten Weber registered an extremely competitive result against and NCAA-caliber opponent. Each rally seemed to consist of fifteen or more shots that echoed throughout the Butch Newman Varsity Tennis Center. Her veteran opponent got the better of Weber on the scoreline, but matches against caliber opponents like this are meaningful on more levels that just wins and losses.
Ultimately it was Anna Sergiovanni that stole the show as she defeated the 30th-ranked opponent in the NCAA in an epic 3-setter. Sergiovanni battled hard but fell 4-6 in the 1st set then rallied to force a 3rd set by winning the 2nd-set in a tiebreaker on 7-straight points. Sergiovanni started the tiebreak by winning the first 4 points, lost the next 4, and won the final 6 to prevent the sweep.
Women's Tennis finishes the regular season at 9-9 (3-3); a much improved season from the 15-16 of 6-8 (1-3). They will most assuredly enter the SCAC Conference Tournament as the #4-seed on Friday, April 28th, 2017 at 9:00AM in San Antonio, Texas.