Friday, March 31
Albuquerque, NM
1:00 PM MT
Air Force Academy
4
at
2
New Mexico
Photo by: Manuela Davies
Women’s Tennis Upends New Mexico, 4-2
3/31/2023 7:01:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Box Score
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In an affair which lasted nearly three and a half hours, the Air Force women's tennis team ground out a 4-2 victory over New Mexico on Friday at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium in Albuquerque.
The day opened with the Falcons' (6-8, 2-1 MW) eleventh doubles win on the season, claimed off the efforts of Alexis Odom/Sydney Fitch and Arianna Van Houweling/Courtney Swift on courts one and three respectively. Fitch/Odom, at 6-6, went 7-1 in the tiebreaker to claim victory over UNM's Leonie Hoppe Katherine Jhang, earning their fourth-consecutive win to improve to 8-2 as a pair. Swift/Van Houweling, who debuted as a duo in the Falcons' Mountain West debut on March 25 against UNLV, remain unbeaten at 3-0.
In singles with the match tied at 1-all after a Lobo victory on court two, it was Swift on line four who put Air Force back ahead after claiming a 6-2, 6-3 win over Hoppe.
On court six, Van Houweling improved to a team-best 9-3 in dual singles, defeating Maria Sodre, 6-1, 6-3. All nine dual singles wins this season for the freshman have been earned in straight sets.
After battling to a 7-5 tiebreaker win in her opening set and falling 6-4 in the second, freshman Abby Cotuna dominated in her final set against Hsuan Huang, downing her Lobo opponent 6-2 to secure a win on her court and clinch the team victory.
On court one, Fitch split the opening two sets against UNM's Sarah O'Connor and was locked in a 2-2 battle in the deciding set at which point the Falcons clinched the team win.
Thoughts From Head Coach Kim Gidley:
"Getting the doubles point gave our team a lot of momentum going into the singles. Courtney and Arianna both have us quick victories to keep the team moving forward.
"Abby had a huge first-set win in the tie-breaker, along with Sydney Fitch in the second set. On the day, the team was 3-0 for tiebreakers, which says a lot about this group's resilience. For the second match in a row, Abby clinched the match for the team win.
"It was tough for both teams to compete outside in the wind. I give a lot of credit to New Mexico, as they hung around for the entire day and would now bow down - It was a true battle to the end. I am really proud of how hard our team is fighting each match. This is a great group!
"Anytime a women's team wins a Mountain West Conference match, it's a good day. To win on the road at your opponent's home court makes it a great day."
Up Next:
Air Force faces No. 58 Fresno State tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In an affair which lasted nearly three and a half hours, the Air Force women's tennis team ground out a 4-2 victory over New Mexico on Friday at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium in Albuquerque.
The day opened with the Falcons' (6-8, 2-1 MW) eleventh doubles win on the season, claimed off the efforts of Alexis Odom/Sydney Fitch and Arianna Van Houweling/Courtney Swift on courts one and three respectively. Fitch/Odom, at 6-6, went 7-1 in the tiebreaker to claim victory over UNM's Leonie Hoppe Katherine Jhang, earning their fourth-consecutive win to improve to 8-2 as a pair. Swift/Van Houweling, who debuted as a duo in the Falcons' Mountain West debut on March 25 against UNLV, remain unbeaten at 3-0.
In singles with the match tied at 1-all after a Lobo victory on court two, it was Swift on line four who put Air Force back ahead after claiming a 6-2, 6-3 win over Hoppe.
On court six, Van Houweling improved to a team-best 9-3 in dual singles, defeating Maria Sodre, 6-1, 6-3. All nine dual singles wins this season for the freshman have been earned in straight sets.
After battling to a 7-5 tiebreaker win in her opening set and falling 6-4 in the second, freshman Abby Cotuna dominated in her final set against Hsuan Huang, downing her Lobo opponent 6-2 to secure a win on her court and clinch the team victory.
On court one, Fitch split the opening two sets against UNM's Sarah O'Connor and was locked in a 2-2 battle in the deciding set at which point the Falcons clinched the team win.
Thoughts From Head Coach Kim Gidley:
"Getting the doubles point gave our team a lot of momentum going into the singles. Courtney and Arianna both have us quick victories to keep the team moving forward.
"Abby had a huge first-set win in the tie-breaker, along with Sydney Fitch in the second set. On the day, the team was 3-0 for tiebreakers, which says a lot about this group's resilience. For the second match in a row, Abby clinched the match for the team win.
"It was tough for both teams to compete outside in the wind. I give a lot of credit to New Mexico, as they hung around for the entire day and would now bow down - It was a true battle to the end. I am really proud of how hard our team is fighting each match. This is a great group!
"Anytime a women's team wins a Mountain West Conference match, it's a good day. To win on the road at your opponent's home court makes it a great day."
Up Next:
Air Force faces No. 58 Fresno State tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
#1 Singles Match
1234
3720
O'CONNOR, Sarah / 0 [NM]
662UF
#2 Singles Match
12
11
JHANG,Katherine / 0 [NM]
66
#3 Singles Match
12
44
VANDEPUTTE, Maud / 0 [NM]
66
#4 Singles Match
12
66
HOPPE, Leonie / 0 [NM]
23
#5 Singles Match
123
746
HUANG, Hsuan / 0 [NM]
662
#6 Singles Match
12
66
SODRE, Maria / 0 [NM]
13
Order of Finish:
2,4,6,3,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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