THIBODAUX, La. – The fifth-seeded UTRGV women's tennis team saw its season come to an end with a tough 4-2 loss to the #4 NJIT Highlanders Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference (SLC) Tennis Championships at the Thibodaux Regional Sports Complex.
A competitive doubles session set the tone for the tight match. The fall conference champion duo of
Irene Cocero/Laura Wipfli quickly gave NJIT the edge with a win on Court 1. But the Vaqueros rallied back as the No. 2 duo of sophomore
Rhea Makesar and freshman
Mariia Bakhtina won their sixth match in a row, 6-4, with a strong finish after falling behind 3-4.
Sophomores
Hitakamya Narwal and
Madeleine Joffe found themselves locked in a back-and-forth affair on Court 3 to determine the doubles point. The Vaqueros held leads at 4-2 and 5-4, but the Highlanders duo of
Feyza Aydin/Paula Menendez Alvarez didn't go down easy. The teams swapped games down the stretch and needed a tiebreaker to determine the finish. NJIT opened a 4:0 lead in the seven-point tiebreaker, but the Vaqueros responded and knotted things up at 6:6, fighting off one match point. The Highlanders took the final two points to secure the 1-0 lead with a 7-6 (8:6) win after a bout that lasted over an hour.
Bakhtina evened the match with a 6-3, 6-2 singles win in the No. 6 flight, but the Highlanders (13-5) went back up, 2-1, with a win on the top court. Again, the Vaqueros (9-8) were able to answer. Junior
Yaiza Vazquez fought through a tight first set and used that momentum to pick up a 7-5, 6-3 win on Court 3 to knot things up at 2-2.
NJIT put the match away with wins in the second and fourth courts. In the No. 4 flight, Joffe and Cocero went toe-to-toe through a three set battle. Joffe was able to bounce back from dropping the first set, but Cocero held on to clinch the team victory with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win.
Results
Doubles (1, 2, 3)
1. Irene Cocero/Laura Wipfli (NJIT) def.
Kristal Dule/
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) 6-0
2.
Rhea Makesar/
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Arina Babkova/Shalom Salvi (NJIT) 6-4
3. Feyza Aydin/Paula Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) def.
Madeleine Joffe/
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV) 7-6 (8:6)
Singles (6, 1, 3, 2, 4)
1. Laura Wipfli (NJIT) def.
Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) 6-3, 7-5
2. Paula Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) def.
Kristal Dule (UTRGV) 6-3, 6-4
3.
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV) def. Shalom Salvi (NJIT) 7-5, 6-3
4. Irene Cocero (NJIT) def.
Madeleine Joffe (UTRGV) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
5.
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV) vs. Arina Babkova (NJIT) 7-6 (9:7), 4-5, unfinished
6.
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Feyza Aydin (NJIT) 6-3, 6-2
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