Women’s tennis team wins fifth straight

Skiff Staff

The TCU women’s tennis team called it quits early in its match against No. 39-ranked Mississippi State Tuesday afternoon.

The Frogs, upon winning their fourth match point, clinched the victory and concluded the match against the Lady Bulldogs before No. 3 and No. 6 singles finished play. The victory is TCU’s fifth straight overall and fifth straight at home.

As of Tuesday morning, the Frogs were ranked 30th nationally.

With nine spots separating TCU and Mississippi State in the rankings, TCU assistant coach Lauri Moore said she anticipated a close match.

“(The team) expected a mental match,” Moore said. “(Mississippi State) is a good, consistent team. Whoever had the best mental toughness was going to win.”

Freshman Paty Aburto won her doubles match before defeating junior Carole Soubis 7-6, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

Aburto said that despite winning in straight sets, her singles match was more difficult than it appeared.

Tim Cox/SKIFF STAFF Sophomore Rosa Perez hits a baseline forehand return in her doubles match win Tuesday against Mississippi State. The women’s tennis team won its fifth straight match overall and fifth straight at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

“I’m playing very well, but (my singles match) was one of the hardest matches I’ve ever played,” Aburto said. “(Soubis) was very consistent and very tough mentally.”

Aburto also said she thought many of her teammates struggled in their matches just as she did in hers.

“I was watching the scoreboards at the beginning, and everybody was down,” Aburto said. “It was kind of discouraging, but everyone (for TCU) did their jobs.”

The Frogs began the match by winning the doubles point at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. The No. 46 ranked pairing of sophomore Rosa Perez and freshman Saber Pierce defeated Mississippi State freshman Yumi Ueda and senior Linda Mattsson. Aburto and junior Leoni Weirich maintained their perfect doubles record against Mississippi State freshman Camila Sagae and senior Amelie Detriviere.

In singles, junior Katrin Gaber defeated Detriviere 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1. Following Aburto’s victory at No. 2, the team match ended when Weirich defeated Ueda at No. 4 singles giving TCU four of the seven points it needed to win the match.

The Frogs only losses came at No. 5 singles and No. 1 doubles. Sagae broke Pierce’s six-match winning streak in straight sets. The Lady Bulldogs’ Soubis and senior Claudia Oliveira defeated Gaber and freshman partner Karolina Roubickova, 8-2.

With the victory, the Frogs improved their record to 4-3 against ranked opponents.

The Frogs’ next match will be Friday at Furman.

skiffletters@tcu.edu