Women’s Tennis Hits the Gas, Shuts Out Utah State

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force Women's Tennis picked up its first win in Mountain West play this season, shutting out Utah State, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon in Cadet East Gym.

Air Force captured its fourth doubles point in the last five matches while improving to 7-0 in clinching doubles at home. On line three, sophomore Nadia Kojonroj and freshman Sofia Mavor battled to 3-3 with Aggie pair Maria Ramos Garcia/Natalie Paterova, before taking three-straight to secure their court. Court one duo Arianna Van Houweling/Shivaani Selvan improved to 3-1 on the season, downing Olivia Halvorsen/Niyati Kukreti, 6-4 to secure the Falcon clinch.

The 4-0 final did not come easily for Air Force, as the Falcons, after gaining a 1-0 advantage, went down in opening singles sets across the board. From there, Air Force found another gear, taking three singles courts in three-set battles to secure the shutout.

Van Houweling, facing off against 7-3 Niyati Kukreti on line three, dropped her first set, 7-6, in a lopsided 7-1 tiebreak. The junior dominated the rest of the way, logging 12-straight game wins and shutting down Kukreti, 6-0, 6-0 in the second and third, scoring her fourth and fifth 6-0 sets in dual singles this season while improving to 7-4 this spring.

Mavor, facing Paterova on court four, dropped a 6-1 opening set and played out to 6-all in the second, forcing a tiebreak. The stalemate held all the way to 7-all, before Mavor broke through to a 9-7 win, followed by a 6-3 third-set victory to secure a 3-0 Falcon lead. Mavor, with wins in four of her last five completed singles matches, jumps to 7-4 in dual singles.

Kojonroj clinched the shutout on court two; Facing Halvorsen, the pair split 7-5 wins in the opening two sets then played to a 3-all draw in the third, before Kojonroj took the lead and got a break in the 4-3 game, before closing out her opponent to secure an Air Force victory and improve to a team-best 9-3 in dual singles.

On the top flight, senior Alexis Odom was on track to claim victory in a heated contest with Indya Nespor before Kojonroj clinched on court two. Odom, after falling 6-2 in her first set, went down as much as 4-1 in the second before storming back to take the set, 7-5. In the deciding set, Nespor went up 2-0, before Odom climbed back to tie. From there, Nespor claimed a lead in the set on four separate occasions, but Odom refused to lie down, tying the match at 3-all, 4-all, 5-all and 6-all before forcing a tiebreak. The Falcon captain gained the upper hand late and led Nespor 4-1 in the tiebreak when Kojonroj clinched and the match was abandoned.

Up Next:
Air Force Women's Tennis (7-9, 1-2 MW) remains at home to host San Jose State and Fresno State on Friday, March 28 and Sunday, March 30 at Cadet East Gym.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.