Feb. 17, 2007

Box Score

The University of Texas-Pan American women's tennis team was down 3-2 with two matches remaining against interstate-rivals Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but two gutsy performances allowed the Lady Broncs to secure a 4-3 victory on Saturday (Feb. 17) in Corpus Christi.

The Lady Broncs found themselves down 1-0 in the match after they dropped two of the three doubles' matches. Stephanie Willerding (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Northview Heights S.S.) and Nicole Garcia (Cibolo, TX/Lee College) were the lone Lady Bronc tandem to capture a victory as they posted a 9-7 decision over Nina Ciric and Alexandra Dyckman in the number-two doubles' position.

In singles' action, Giana Oliveira (Santa Anna, Brazil/Eckerd College) posted a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Carmen Abeaboeru in the number-one portion of the lineup. Julia Cirne-Lima (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Eckerd College) dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision in the number-two position to Erika Iriarte.

Willerding captured the number-three singles' point with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Alexandra Dyckman, and Garcia suffered a 6-3, 6-3 setback to Amanda Brahim in the sixth position of the singles' lineup.

Silke Buksik (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier-Gymnasium Waiblingen) found a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Alexandra Valarezo in the number-four position. The UTPA senior was down by a 4-1 count in the third and final set, but managed to battle her way back to victory for the Lady Broncs.

With the score tied at 3-3, the fate of the match fell into the hands of UTPA newcomer Megan Bedeau (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada/Northview Heights S.S.) and Islanders' sophomore Erika Iriarte in the number-four singles' spot. The UTPA freshman suffered a 7-5 setback in the first match, but came back to win 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (7-5) to capture the match and victory for the Lady Broncs.

Bedeau was faced with a trio of times where match point was on the side of the Islanders, and was able to come from behind in the tiebreakers of the third and final set to secure the victory for the Lady Broncs.

The Lady Broncs improved their record to 3-7 on the season and posted their second victory of the season over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

UTPA will be back in action on February 24th when the Lady Broncs welcome Nicholls State to the Orville Cox Tennis Center.

UTPA Sports Information