SAN ANTONIO - No. 24 Trinity University Women's Tennis stood toe-to-toe with No. 13 University of Mary Washington Friday night at the Newman Tennis Center, and forced its way past the Eagles with a third-set victory from Ruth Hill (Abilene, Texas / Abilene) in line three to end the night.
The Tigers (10-7) hit double-digits in the win column with its highest-ranked victory of the 2022 campaign thus far, and the fourth-straight match against a nationally-ranked opponent in five days.
The Rundown
Despite falling behind early on an 8-3 mark in line-three doubles, both remaining duos, Megan Flores (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) and Cate Cushing (Colleyville, Texas / Colleyville Heritage) in line one, Hill and Olivia Kim (Phoenix, Ariz. / Desert Mountain) in line two, battled into attrition-testing tiebreaks. Hill and Kim won the race back to the book on a 9-7 tiebreak tally for their third straight in line two; Flores and Cushing collected a necessary advantage moments later with their 8-6 tally.
With the doubles advantage decided, the dogfight in singles action ensued. All of the top three lines of play required a third set, while lines five and six both rolled on with long rallies. Flores brought the Tigers an early 3-1 margin with a 6-2, 6-1 performance in line four, though the advantage was shortlived as the three-set contests in lines one and two both fell to the Eagles.
Now with the first draw since Hill and Kim notched Trinity's first point, the battle raged on. After a 6-4 setback in her first set, Jenna Lee (San Clemente, Calif. / Jserra Catholic) bounced back into a 5-5 deadlock in her second frame. Meanwhile, on the other end of the Newman Tennis Center, Elodie Richard (Allen, Texas / Allen) was putting together a slow-and-steady contest, leading late in her second set, with a first set victory in hand. At virtually the same time, Lee slipped into a 7-5 defeat to cede the fifth line but Richard put the bow on a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the sixth.
Both teams congregated on court three in the 4-4 deadlock to find Hill in the heat of a grueling third-set matchup, up 3-2 and fighting off a rally from Mary Washington's Lauren Quinn, who evened the line on a 6-3 result in the second set. Both players traded one more game for a 4-3 tally. With her Tiger teammates in full support behind her bench, Hill stormed the court for back-to-back games to seal the match for Trinity.
Up Next
No. 24 Trinity Women's Tennis concludes its tough slate this week with No. 21 Washington University (MO) Sunday morning at 9 a.m. at the Newman Tennis Center.
