Jacob Jardel
Managing Editor
@JJardel_Writing
The third-ranked women’s tennis team dropped its first conference game on the season after losing 3-6 in their home finale to second-ranked Midwestern on April 10 in Lawton.
Both teams went into the matchup in the Top 25 of the national rankings, with MSU holding the 15th slot and CU ranking 24th. The rival squads entered the match undefeated in Lone Star Conference play.
Doubles action started with Zhenia Shviadok and Mathilde Thibaudat against MSU’s Bianca Duff and Maddy Coffman. CU opened on serve, winning the first game of the set.
Both teams held serve to tie the match at two-all heading into the fifth game. After the squads knotted up the score at 40, a quick reaction volley put Cameron up 3-2.
The duo broke Midwestern’s serve to go up 4-2 before holding the next point for a 5-2 advantage. Both teams held for the next two points to bring the match to 6-3.
Duff and Coffman rallied back to tie the match at six-all, eventually breaking Cameron’s serve on a double fault to take their first lead.
The teams traded breaks to knot the set at eight games apiece. Zhviadok and Thibaudat fell 4-1 in the tiebreak before stringing together six-straight points to take the tiebreak, the set and the match 9-8 (7-4).
The win was Cameron’s only doubles win on the day.
In the second slot, Paula Gutierrez and Samantha Wood pushed opponents Daria Panferova and Eirini Kontaki to a tiebreaker after a tightly-contested set.
MSU opened on serve and took the first two points before CU won the third game in straight points. The Aggies rallied among back and forth games to eventually take a 5-4 lead.
But the teams eventually tied at six, seven and eight, forcing a tiebreaking set, which CU lost 8-9 (5-7).
Magdalena Kovinic and Jordan Allison opened on serve in their third-slot match against Greta Lazzerotto and Ashley Ramirez. MSU broke serve to open the match before putting CU in the hole 0-4.
Cameron held service to notch their first point of the match at 1-4. The teams traded service matches before MSU broke serve twice to give the Aggies the 2-8 loss.
The Black and Gold did not fair much better in their singles draws on the day.
Gutierrez matched up against Panferova in the first singles slot, opening on and holding serve to take the first game of the first set.
Gutierrez took the next three points before Panferova won two straight points to cut Gutierrez’ lead to 4-2.
The CU senior took the final two games of the set to win it 6-2, the score by which she took the second set and the match.
Shviadok faced off against Kontaki in the two-slot. She opened on serve, but gave up the break to fall to 0-1 off the bat.
But Shviadok eventually tied the set at two and tied the first set at two-all.
The sophomore ended up taking the first set 6-4.
She continued her momentum into the second set, winning the first game. However, Shviadok lost 3-6 to force the game into a tiebreaker, which she took 10-4 to clinch the three-set match victory.
Thibaudat started her third-slot game against Duff on serve, losing the first point heading into Duff’s service. Thibaudat ended up losing the first set 0-6.
She regained her footing in the second set, holding onto serve to keep the game close midway through at 2-3. However, Duff’s game proved insurmountable, resulting in a CU loss 0-6, 4-6.
Wood faced off against Coffman in the fourth spot. She gained a 3-0 advantage on her MSU opponent before winning the first set 6-1.
The senior continued her momentum in the second set, going up by as much as 4-1.
But Coffman mounted a comeback, eventually forcing a tiebreaker after dropping Wood 5-7 in the middle frame. CU lost that matchup in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-10.
The day ended with Kovinic and Allison losing their matches in straight sets and straight games.
The loss dropped Cameron to 11-10 on the season as a whole, 2-1 in LSC play.
The Mustangs moved up to 17-3 while maintaining an undefeated 3-0 record in conference.
After closing out the season on the road against Western New Mexico and Texas-Permian Basin, the Aggies prepare for the LSC Tournament from April 21-22 in Arlington, Texas.