Sam Houston State’s tennis team lost two games this past weekend to Stephen F. Austin State and Northwestern State.
Chris Winfield | The Houstonian
The losses dropped the Kats overall record to 2-15 and their Southland Conference record to 1-9.
SHSU took on SLC rival SFA on Saturday. The Bearkats could not get their game together as they fell to the Lumberjacks 6-1.
Out of both the doubles and singles competitions, the Kats only managed to pick up one point and courtesy of junior Maddie Mortimore who played in the six spot. She defeated Julia SFA’s Locra 7-6 (7-5) and 6-0.
“I felt very confident with my game,” Mortimore said. “I was very pumped throughout the whole match, so that really helped me get through the first set and ultimately win the match.”
SFA’s Malena Cordo defeated freshman Fabienne Gettwart 6-3, 6-2 in the one spot. In the second spot, Lumberjacks’ Vivienne Kulicke outed senior Olivia Battye 6-3, 6-1 while Denise Maxl finished SHSU’s freshman Mila Milanovic 6-4, 3-5. In the fours’ matchup, SFA’s Dhanielly Quevedo defeated junior Bailey VanDyke 6-0, 6-1 and the Jacks’ Valeria Terentyeva finished senior Karen Martinez 6-2, 7-5.
The Kats struggled to win a doubles match.
SFA’s Locra and Maxi defeated the Kat duo of Martinez and VanDyke 8-4 while the Lumberjack pair of Kulicka and Terentyeva dropped the duo of Gettwart and Mortimore 8-1.
The Bearkats failed to bounce back Sunday against the Demons as the Kats fell short 5-2. The match against the Demons was the final match for Bearkat seniors Battye and Martinez.
The Kats picked up their only points from VanDyke and freshman Caitlyn Mitchell in singles matches.
VanDyke defeated Demon Aliona Ladutska 6-1 before the second set was retired, and Mitchell beat Barbora Kollarova 6-1 in both sets.
The Demons’ Tatiana Larina took the number one match 6-4, 6-3 over Gettwart 6-4, 6-3.Northwestern State’s Natalya Krutova defeated Battye 6-2 in back-to-back sets. Martinez loss 4-6, 2-6 in the four spot and Mortimore loss in the five spot to Northwestern State’s Piatakova 3-6, 1-4 before retiring.
Just like in their matchup against SFA, the Bearkats came up empty handed in the doubles competition against the Demons.
The Demon duo of Krutova and Larina defeated Battye and Martinez 8-4 and the Demons’ Emily Kerr and Ladutska defeated Bearkats pair Mitchell and Mortimore 8-3.
“I think we played two very tough and challenging teams,” Mortimore said. “On every single court we tried our best, and at the end of the day, that is all an athlete can do.”
The losses to SFA and Northwestern State conclude the Bearkats’ 2015 season.