Texas State women’s tennis (9-6, 3-4 Sun Belt Conference) fell to Troy University (11-6, 5-2 Sun Belt Conference) 4-3 after a neck-and-neck contest that went all the way to the final singles match Friday morning at Bobcat Tennis Complex.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Texas State tennis Head Coach Kendall Brooks said. “It didn’t go our way today, which is disappointing, but we battled, and we’ve got another chance this Sunday.”
Doubles
Going into doubles, the Bobcats started strong and with high energy. On court six, Texas State sophomore Andrea Pineda and senior Mae McCutcheon tied the set 3-3, but the Trojans were able to find the lead and win the set 6-3. Next to fall were sophomore Emily Niers and graduate Emma Car on court five as the Trojans won the set 6-4 and clinched the doubles point.
Singles
Despite losing the doubles point, the Bobcats put up a strong fight in singles, holding the lead until the final match.
Texas State junior Kiana Graham performed exceptionally, not allowing a single point from her opponent, Troy sophomore Valeriia Avdeeva, and winning the Bobcats their first singles point in 2 sets, 6-0.
Meanwhile, on court one, sophomore Andrea Pineda lost her fourth singles match of the season 6-2, 6-1. Junior Maria Lora lost in consecutive sets 6-3, 6-3, leaving the score 3-1 in Troy’s favor.
However, the Bobcats did not let up and continued to battle to even out the score.
Over on court three, junior Sofia Fortuno secured another singles point for the Bobcats after fighting hard in a tiebreak set and winning the match 7-6, 6-1.
Niers also emerged victorious after battling three neck-and-neck sets, winning the last two sets and the third singles point for the Bobcats 6-2, 7-6, 6-2.
The team gathered around to watch graduate student graduate Callie Creath and Troy’s junior Hagar Ramadan-Amin in the final match of the day. Creath was able to push both sets into tiebreakers but ultimately lost the lead and the match 7-5, 7-5.
The Bobcats will play two more conference games at home against Georgia State (6-12, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) on April 7.
