SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA women’s tennis team defeated Abilene Christian, 6-1, on Friday at the UTSA Tennis Center, officially opening the spring with a winning week.
This marks the Roadrunners’ first win over the Wildcats since Jan. 26, 2019 (5-2). This is also UTSA’s second victory over ACU in the all-time series.
In doubles action, the duo of freshman Ekua Youri and sophomore Fatima Gutierrez opened things up with a 6-2 victory at court two over ACU’s Hebe Toyos and Masha Vrsalovic. Aleksandra Zlatarova and Cassie McLay secure the doubles point for UTSA with a win over Olivia Sears/Maria Cascos, 6-4,at the first court. The third court went unfinished as Magda Tuells and Vittoria Baccino were up 5-4.
Zlatarova finished singles play quickly at the top spot, routing Sears by sets of 6-2 and 6-1. Youri followed that with a win at the fourth court, defeating Vrsalovic by both sets of 6-1. For the second consecutive match, Gutierrez clinched the winning point at court two, this time by defeating Cascos in sets of 7-5 and 6-0.
Playing out the rest of the singles courts, Tuells followed that with a three-set battle at the sixth court. The senior won the first set over Libby Blair, 6-2, before falling in the second set by 2-6. Tuells then finished it with a dominant 6-0 third set to secure the fifth point for UTSA.
Another close matchup, McLay battled but fell to the Wildcats’ Andrea Guerrero by 6-4 and 7-5. Baccino fought hard at the third and final court, going to three sets. After the freshman dropped the first set by 3-6, she battled back to win the second and third sets by 6-2 and 6-4, leading UTSA to a 6-1 win over ACU.
With the win, the Roadrunners improved to a 2-0 record. In their first competition of the spring, the Wildcats fell to 0-1.
The Roadrunners head north up I-35 to face the Bobcats of Texas State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27.
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