Trinity’s women’s tennis team opened its 2014 season with a win and a loss at the ACU Indoor Championships.
The Tigers’ first game was against Division II University of Texas-Permian Basin and finished with a score of 7-2. The Tigers took two out of three doubles matches to start the action, then secured five of six lines in singles.
Senior Kylie Hornbeck, first year Liza Southwick and sophomore Kristy Hamilton were all winners in both singles and doubles for Trinity, and it was Hamilton’s 6-1, 6-1 straight-set win at the fifth position that clinched the match. Hamilton teamed with senior Stephanie Williamson to put the Tigers up 2-0 in doubles, following the opening win by the doubles team of Hornbeck and Southwick.
“I think this past weekend for us set the tone for a great season. We started off strong with a 7-2 win against UTPB, with everyone contributing to a great first match of the season. Although we lost our second match, it provided great insight for what we need to work on, and what we need to focus on improving over these next couple of weeks,” Southwick said.
Southwick and Hornbeck opened singles play with wins at No. 3 and No. 2, respectively, and Trinity held a commanding 4-1 advantage. UT-Permian Basin picked up its only point in singles at the top position, but then Hamilton was able to clinch shortly after.
Sophomore Gabrielle Roe (6-3, 6-3 at No. 4) and senior Lavinia Bendandi (6-4, 7-5 at No. 6) finished off the match, nabbing two more team points for the Tigers.
Unfortunately, the Tigers fell to Division I Abilene Christian University during the second day of playing and finished with an upset score of 0-7.
ACU won all three doubles matches by scores of 6-1 to score the opening point. The Wildcats went on to sweep all six singles matches to finish off the victory.
“This season we are hoping to improve upon our results from last year. We are confident in our ability to win conference and are excited about making an appearance at nationals,” Roe said.
The tightest match came at No. 3 singles, as Southwick was edged 6-4, 3-6, 10-1. Sophomore Caroline White lost 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, while Hornbeck fell 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 2 slot. Roe lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4, Hamilton fell 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5, and Williamson was downed 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6.
“This coming weekend we have three home matches before we have a couple weeks off. They will all be challenging matches, so it will be a great test of how we can perform against schools outside of our division. I am so confident in our team’s ability to do well this year,” said head women’s tennis coach Matthew Haugen.
Trinity opened its home campaign yesterday by hosting the Division II St. Mary’s University Rattlers at the Butch Newman Tennis Center. Their next games will be held tomorrow against Mary Hardin Baylor and Midwestern State.
