Tennis seasons end in NCAA regional
ABILENE, Texas (May 5) – For the second time in two weeks, the Cameron men's tennis team dropped a 5-0 decision to conference rival Midwestern State. This time, it cost the Aggies a trip to the national tournament.
Coach James Helvey's 17th-ranked Aggies fell behind early and couldn't recover, losing for just the fourth time this season. The Cameron women's team also ended its season on Thurday, dropping a 5-2 decision to Northeastern State in the NCAA Central Region semifinals.
Cameron's men ended the season with an overall record of 22-4, while the 34th-ranked Lady Aggies ended their year with a 22-7 mark.
Two of the three doubles contests in the Aggies' matchup with Midwestern State went down to the wire. Both matches were tied at 6-6 as each team held serve. MSU took 7-6 leads on-serve in both before finally earning the first breaks of either match in the 14th game to win both matches 8-6.
With a stout 3-0 lead after doubles play, Midwestern wasted no time closing out the match. Cameron held leads in four singles matches, but the Indians got straight-set wins form Rohan Williams and Jared King to get the win and advance to Friday's regional championship match.
The Lady Aggies picked up a doubles victory from Carolina Vera-Vera and Mehgan Goforth to enter singles play trailing Northeastern by just one team point. Vera-Vera also picked up a singles win, topping NSU's Berit Itschert in straight sets.
But the Lady Reds got a trio of quick wins, all coming in straight sets, to close out the match and advance to the regional title match.
MEN
Midwestern State 5, Cameron 0
Singles
Rohan Williams, MSU, def. Jordi Mullor, 6-3, 6-4
Jared King, MSU, def. Jorge Zabrodiec, 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
Gene Ligeon/Rohan Williams, MSU, def. Oscar Guerra/Rafael Zurita, 8-6
Brett Emerson/Charles van Swelm, MSU, def. Carlos Fernandez/Jordi Mullor, 8-3
Zac Dillard/Jared King, MSU, def. Alex Furlan/Darren Cobble, 8-6
WOMEN
Northeastern State 5, Cameron 2
Singles
Holly McKee, NSU, def. Thatianne Moreira, CU, 6-2, 6-3
Carolina Vera-Vera, CU, def. Berit Itschert, NSU, 6-2, 6-3
Simona Stoica, NSU, def. Marianne Reeves, CU, 6-3, 6-4
Amanda Stone, NSU, def. Mehgan Goforth, CU, 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles
Holly McKee/Berit Itschert, NSU, def. Thatianne Moreira/Paulina Trujillo, CU, 8-1
Carolina Vera-Vera/Mehgan Goforth, CU, def. Simona Stoica/Kelli Sturm, NSU, 9-8 (7)
Amanda Stone/Nicole Chambers, NSU, def. Taylor Ivie/Sandra-Leigh King, CU, 9-8 (4)
