BEAUMONT, Texas – The Northwestern State women’s tennis season ended Monday in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals, falling 4-0 to No. 3-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The No. 2 Lady Demons entered the match following a 4-1 win over seventh-seeded UTRGV, setting up a rematch with an Islanders squad NSU defeated 4-3 at Corpus Christi during the regular season.
“Corpus competed well today,” head coach Marcos Morelli said. “Congratulations to them on a good win.”
Northwestern found early success in doubles, as the second team all-conference duo of Martina Acebedo Bonocore and Athina Grigoriadou dominated their match with a 6-0 win at the No. 3 position.
The Islanders responded on the other courts, posting a pair of 6-2 victories to claim the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
“Corpus competed well. They imposed their game in doubles, and used that momentum well into singles,” Morelli said.
A&M-CC’s two first-team All-SLC singles players posted straight set victories to raise the score to 3-0, and another straight set decision ended the match and advanced the Islanders to today’s championship match.
Northwestern was ahead in the other three singles matches. Honoka Umeda led her No. 1 singles match 6-4, 4-2. Sofi Garcia was ahead 5-3 in the second set after dropping the first 6-2, while Lolita Hukasian had taken the opening set 6-3.
“Very proud of this group in a lot of ways,” Morelli said. “The way they handled adversity and their resilience this season is something to point out.
“The expectation is to represent Northwestern State with excellence, on and off the court,” Morelli added. “Each one of them has improved in their own way.”
