Women’s Tennis Shuts Out St. Thomas, Downs Chicago State 6-1

St. Thomas Box Score | Chicago State Box Score

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air Force women's tennis team, facing a myriad of challenges through the opening weeks of its spring dual season, broke through on Saturday, claiming its first shutout victory of the season, followed by a convincing 6-1 win over Chicago State, capping a successful day for the Falcons in the Cadet East Gym.

Air Force (4-5) went 2-0 in doubles competition, led by court two duo Abby Cotuna/Isabella Flodin, winning in both matches to improve to 6-0 on the season as a pair.

On line three versus St. Thomas, Andrea Le/Courtney Swift earned a 6-3 win vs. St. Thomas, improving to improving to 5-2; Court one versus Chicago State featured Sydney Fitch/Alexis Odom remaining undefeated at 5-0 with a 6-4 win over Fuller/Li of Chicago State.

As a team, the Falcons improved to 8-1 in doubles play, with two of three doubles decisions counting as a single point.

Singles play ended in similarly dominant fashion in both matches, with Air Force dropping only one match in both contests. All six of Air Force's singles wins against St. Thomas came in straight sets. Four Falcons – Flodin, Odom, Swift and Arianna Van Houweling - closed out their courts with a 2-0 record on the day. Swift, Cotuna and Van Houweling took their second matches of the day in two sets in addition.

Flodin and Odom, after both falling in their first sets on courts two and three, battled back to claim three-set victories; Fitch, on court one, after splitting her first two sets against Chicago State's Cali Fuller, fell 8-6 in a third-set tiebreak.

Once the dust settled on the day, Van Houweling improved to 6-2 in dual singles; Swift closed her day with a 4-2 mark.

From Head Coach Kim Gidley on Today's Successes:
"Today was a big breakthrough for our team today. Everyone on the team showed up to compete and made a huge difference. If we all show up on the same day, we are pretty darn good - Of course, that is a lot more difficult to do than it may sound.

"I have to give credit to Chicago State for pushing us to the limit this evening. Chicago State is a very good team and made us have to win every match we played today. Our team needed to be pushed this way and it was great to see them come through and have the win. It was even more challenging as this was our second Division I match in a day, so that made the two wins a little sweeter."

Up Next:
Air Force women's tennis is back in action tomorrow evening, hosting No. 39 Denver in the East Gym.

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