CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A grueling conference matchup that spanned four hours came down to the final court in a third-set tiebreaker and unfortunately the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's tennis team came up on the short end of a 4-3 decision against Northwestern State Monday.
It was an instant classic, with two of the most distinguished women's tennis teams in the conference facing off for the early conference match and going the distance with the deciding point coming at the final singles court in a third set tiebreak. The Islanders (11-2) had been battling in singles after the Lady Demons (6-4) took the doubles point, but ultimately fell short of the comeback.
Yana Mykytyn/
Kseniya Ramanouskaya defended the No. 1 court in doubles play, finishing first with a 6-3 score. However, Northwestern State took over on courts two and three to take the early 1-0 lead in the match.
Singles play had the Islanders quickly reverse the advantage. Mykytyn turned in a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 2 singles right before
Juliette Jalai capped a 6-4, 6-0 performance at No. 6 singles to put the Islanders up 2-0 in the match.
The Lady Demons evened it back up by taking court one, and then went back up 3-2 with a three-set decision at No. 4. Ramanouskaya then tied the match up once more after pulling out a pair of tiebreak sets for a gritty 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) win at No. 3 singles. Then all eyes went down to court five.
Josefa Fuenzalida battled back after a first-set loss to send her singles dual to a third set. After going down 5-3 in the decisive set, she fought off several match points to make it 6-6 and force a tiebreak. However, her opponent got past her just enough to clinch the match for the Lady Demons.
It is just the third regular season conference loss in the last five years for the Islanders.
The Islanders will now hit the road for their next six matches, not returning home until the final weekend of conference play on April 4 and 6.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 17 NCAA Tournaments
- 35 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 43 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
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