The Arizona women's tennis team improved to 1-1 on the season after beating UTEP 7-0 today during the Wildcat's home opener. Four days removed from a 4-3 loss to Hawaii, Arizona managed to win all but one set and will look to keep the positive momentum going tomorrow against Princeton at 2 p.m. MST.
“I think that we did a good job today given that we were coming off of a tough loss against Hawaii,” said head coach Vicky Maes. “I certainly was pleased that we had the opportunity to play four days later. The Hawaii trip was a bit of a mental letdown because we lost a lot of the deuce games, and that certainly made a big difference. Today our goal was to bring most of those deuce games home. We are playing a different format that is new for everybody, and I think that our girls responded well. We got in tough situations, we were challenged, it wasn't pretty, but they found a way to win. I think going into the match with Princeton tomorrow knowing that we are going to be playing a very experienced, very athletic team, we needed a win like this.”
Arizona started the match strong with dominating doubles play on courts two and three. Senior Inge Hendrikx and junior Samantha Czarniak were the first duo to take a doubles match after a 6-2 victory over UTEP's Daphne Visscher and Lois Wagenvoort. As Senior Shayne Austin and junior no. 64 Lauren Marker were going to the wire against UTEP's Duda Santos and Vivienne Kulicke, the Arizona freshman tandem of Camila Wesbrooks and Sophia Thomas defeated Matilda Tench and Raven Bennett by a score of 6-3, securing the doubles point.
With the one point edge that was won through doubles play, the Wildcats were quickly led to victory by the team veterans. Austin was the first to win a singles match for Arizona when she beat Santos (6-2, 7-5) just moments before Marker took down Kulicke (6-1, 6-4). Sophomore Devin Chyphya's 6-2, 6-3 win over Visscher guaranteed the final result by bringing the score to 4-0.
Even though Arizona had already won the match, there were three Wildcats who were hungry for their first win in LaNelle Robson. Sophia Thomas started 0-3 in her first set, but came back and ended up defeating Tench (6-3, 6-3) not long before Czarniak took down Bennett (6-2, 6-3). Wesbrooks was the first singles player to win a set (6-0), but was the last Wildcat to finish playing due to a 5-7 set two loss and an extremely competitive 10-6 tie breaker in set three which completed the sweep.
“Camila got in a bit of situation after winning the first set 6-0,” said coach Maes. “She then had to scramble back into a super tie breaker for the third set. With Camila, you certainly know that you are going to see a lot of heart and I saw that again today, but she definitely has some areas that she needs to work on to not get into situations like today.”
Singles
1. Lauren Marker (UA) def. Vivienne Kulicke (UTEP) 6-1, 6-4
2. Shayne Austin (UA) def. Duda Santos (UTEP) 6-2, 7-5
3. Camila Wesbrooks (UA) def. Lois Wagenvoort (UTEP) 6-0, 5-7, 10-6
4. Devin Chyphya (UA) def. Daphne Visscher(UTEP) 6-2, 6-3
5. Samantha Czarniak (UA) def. Raven Bennett (UTEP) 6-2, 6-3
6. Sophia Thomas (UA) def. Matilda Tench (UTEP) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. Lauren Marker/Shayne Austin (UA) vs. Duda Santos/Vivienne Kulicke (UTEP) 4-5 U.F.
2. Samantha Czarniak/ Inge Hendrikx (UA) def. Daphne Visscher/Lois Wagenvoort (UTEP) 6-2
3. Camila Wesbrooks/Sophia Thomas (UA) def. Matilda Tench/ Raven Bennett (UTEP) 6-3
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