RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's tennis team's comeback bid fell short against the Lamar (LU) Cardinals Saturday at Thompson Family Tennis Center.
Trailing 3-0, UTRGV began to rally across the bottom four courts. All the action turned to court five where junior
Rhea Makesar wrapped up a dominant 6-3, 6-1 victory over
Valerya Zagynayko. Makesar found herself in a 2-0 deficit before winning six of the next seven games to steal the first set. Makesar kept the momentum rolling, winning the first two games of the second set, followed by the final four games of the match in a crushing 6-1 win.
The next court to finish was court six where sophomore
Mariia Bakhtina cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over
Eva Gumenyuk. The first set was knotted at 3-3 before Bakhtina rattled off three consecutive games, which included one break to win the set. The second set saw six breaks throughout the set including the first two games to stay even at 1-1. Bakhtina broke again at 2-2 to take an eventual 4-2 advantage. The final three games all resulted in broken serves as Bakhtina took the set 6-3.
It all came down to the final two courts, courts three and four. On court four, sophomore
Luna Buijtenhuijs battled in a 2:26 marathon match that ended in straight sets. Tied at 2-2 in the first set, Buijtenhuijs won the final four games of the frame to take the first set, 6-2. Buijtenhuijs jumped out to a huge 5-1 lead in the second before her opponent,
Martina Alcaino Vergara, won five straight games to take a 6-5 lead in the set. Buijtenhuijs rallied to force the deciding tiebreaker which went the distance. Tied at 6-6 in the breaker, Buijtenhuijs took the final two points of the set to tie the overall score at 3-3.
One minute later, junior
Hitakamya Narwal finished up her three-set battle with
Asta Miettinen, falling 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 as Lamar clinched the 4-3 victory.
The Vaqueros will round out their road trip at Incarnate Word Monday which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., as the second match in a doubleheader with the men's tennis program.
Results
Doubles (2, 1, 3)
1. Asta Miettinen (LU) def.
Luna Buijtenhuijs/
Rhea Makesar (UTRGV), 6-2
2. Martina Alcaino Vergara (LU) def.
Barbara Martinez/
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV), 6-3
3.
Arina Gudovskaya/Eva Gumenyuk (LU) def. Mariia Bakhtina/Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV), 7-6 (7:4)
Singles (1, 2, 5, 6, 4, 3)
1.
Arina Gudovskaya (LU) def. Barbara Martinez (UTRGV), 6-0, 6-3
2. Luana Paiva (LU) def.
Yaiza Vazquez (UTRGV), 6-0, 6-2
3. Asta Miettinen (LU) def.
Hitakamya Narwal (UTRGV), 7-5, 2-6, 6-3
4.
Luna Buijtenhuijs (UTRGV) def. Martina Alcaino Vergara (LU), 6-2, 7-6 (8:6)
5.
Rhea Makesar (UTRGV) def. Valerya Zagynayko (LU), 6-3, 6-1
6.
Mariia Bakhtina (UTRGV) def. Eva Gumenyuk (LU), 6-3, 6-3
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