Texas State Women’s Tennis Team Defeats Trinity 6-1

The Texas State women’s tennis team took control early and maintained their pace as the Bobcats posted a 6-1 victory over Trinity University in their first home match of the season on Saturday, February 13, at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.

Texas State began the day winning all three doubles matches by a score of 8-2, and they won five of the six singles matches to improve their record to 3-2 this season.

The Bobcats began the day with Andrea Giraldo and Melissa Hadad beating Katie Poettcker and Thavindra Ekanayake in the top doubles match. In the other two doubles matches, Kiki Kruse and Nyssa Peele defeated Katie Griffith and Megan Jackson in number two doubles and Gabriel Rojas and Mariana Charalambous defeated Katie Budinsky and Kassie Seger in the number three-doubles match.

“We went up very quickly, and then lost a couple of points in each of our doubles matches,” Plunkett said. “I thought the key was that we did a great job of correcting those mistakes and regained control in each match.

“In singles play, we took care of business and made them play our game. That was an important factor in our ability to keep control of the pace in each match and maintain our lead.”

In singles play, Giraldo won her match against Poettcker very quickly as she beat her in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
“I took care of the short shots and played aggressively on her second serves,” Giraldo said. “I also changed the rhythm of my shots so it kept her off balance.”

Hadad also won her number two singles match 6-0, 6-1 over Griffith, while Rojas defeated Ekanayake 7-5, 6-4 in a hard-fought number three match.

In the other three singles matches, Kruse defeated Budinsky 6-0, 6-0 in number-four singles, while Nyssa Peele defeated Jackson 6-3, 6-1 in a number-five singles match. Trinity won its lone match of the day when Seger defeated Charalambous in three sets by scores of 2-6, 7-5, and 10-6.

“Mariana was playing her first home match and she was the only player on the team who had not played a here before since she joined us in the second semester,” Plunkett added. “It can be difficult to play at home for the first time, and I am sure that she was nervous throughout the match.”

After their victory against Trinity, the Bobcats return to action next Thursday afternoon when they play host to St. Edward’s in a non-conference match at the Bobcat Tennis Complex. The match begins at 3:00 p.m.

“We need to continue working on closing out games when we have our first opportunity,” Plunkett said. “We have to put pressure on each of our opponents on every point. That is something that will be very important when we start playing (Southland Conference) matches.”