ARLINGTON (April 22, 2017) – The Tarleton TexAnn tennis team is headed to the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship match for the first time since 2014 and fourth time in school history after finishing off a thrilling 5-4 upset of No. 2-seed Cameron in the semifinals Friday night.
This is Tarleton’s fourth trip to the league title match since debuting in the championship match in 2008. The TexAnns went to the tournament’s finale in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009. Tarleton last qualified for the final match of the tournament in 2014 and is still in search of its first tournament title.
Tarleton’s journey to the championship match started after quickly disposing of Western New Mexico in the quarterfinal match earlier Friday morning. That win paired the No. 3-seed TexAnns against Cameron.
The TexAnns came out swinging against the Aggies and swept through doubles play, starting with an 8-1 win from Alicia Barbaroux and Tori Simmons in the No. 3 match. The top-seeded doubles team of Elena Preadca and Luiza Ferraro-Adas took care of their match 8-5 while Erika Johnston and Ashleigh Elward handled the No. 2 match 8-6 to cap off the doubles sweep.
Cameron mounted a comeback effort in singles action by winning each of the top four matches, but the bottom of the TexAnn lineup came up big for the TexAnns as Tori Simmons and Luiza Ferraro-Adas rallied back from second-set losses to win the match with three-set thrillers.
Simmons took her first set 7-5 before falling 1-6 in the second set. The freshman battled back to win her match with a 6-3 win in the third set to even up the match at 4-4 with only Ferraro-Adas still battling. Meanwhile, Ferraro-Adas was in the midst of her own rally. The senior from Brazil won the first set 6-2 before falling 6-7 in the second set. She bounced back to win the final set of the night 6-1 and send Tarleton to the championship match.
“This was a hard-fought semifinal match,” said head coach Lance Drake. “Being able to sweep doubles was huge for us tonight. Cameron did a great job of fighting back and making a run. After they each dropped their second set, Tori and Luiza did a great job of turning their matches around. This team has kept fighting all year and will need to muster up another strong performance tomorrow, but I’m extremely proud of the way we played and battled all day.”
The complete results from Friday’s semifinal are as follows:
Doubles:
1. Elena Preadca/Luiza Ferraro-Adas (TSU) def. Zhenia Shviadok/Mathilde Thibaudat (CUWT) 8-5
2. Erika Johnston/Ashleigh Elward (TSU) def. Paula Gutierrez/Samantha Wood (CUWT) 8-6
3. Alicia Barbaroux/Tori Simmons (TSU) def. Jordan Allison/Magdalena Kovinic (CUWT) 8-1
Singles:
1. Paula Gutierrez (CUWT) def. Erika Johnston (TSU) 6-0, 6-1
2. Zhenia Shviadok (CUWT) def. Elena Preadca (TSU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Mathilde Thibaudat (CUWT) def. Alicia Barbaroux (TSU) 6-1, 7-5
4. Samantha Wood (CUWT) def. Ashleigh Elward (TSU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Luiza Ferraro-Adas (TSU) def. Magdalena Kovinic (CUWT) 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
6. Tori Simmons (TSU) def. Viola Lugmayr (CUWT) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3
Tarleton goes for its first LSC Tournament Championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Arlington Tennis Center against Midwestern State.
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