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Aggies end season in national tourney
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (May 8) – The 2007-2008 season came to a close today for the Cameron Aggie women’s tennis team (12-10) who was taking part in the national championship tournament. This afternoon the Aggies lost to Lone Star Conference rival Tarleton State (14-5) by the score 5-0. The two teams were matching up in the first round of the tournament in the first of two regional rounds. Cameron had an incredible season and played arguably the toughest schedule in the nation.
“We played hard today but didn’t have enough,” Head Coach James Helvey said. “We are a very talented team who played well against some of the best teams in the nation, but we couldn’t get the victory today. Give Tarleton State credit though; they are a very good team.”
Cameron had fallen to #33 in the latest national rankings, from their previous spot at #25. The TSU TexAnns are currently ranked #20 in the nation. Tarleton State won the regular season match-up between the teams by the score 7-2. TSU will now move onto the second round of the tournament, while CU will head home to Lawton.
The TexAnns swept the three doubles matches to open up the afternoon, although each match was very close. The tightest match came at the No. 3 spot where the TexAnn tandem of Jade Charlot and Evgeniya Prokofeva needed a pair of extra games against CU’s Sophia Rich and Carolina Mullor. The final score of the match was an exciting 9-8.
“The (No. 3) doubles match was very tight,” Coach Helvey said. “It was back and forth and we had a chance to win it at the end. You will always have those matches though.”
In the No. 1 doubles spot Irene George and Whitney Renfurm lost to Shannon Jordan and Adriana Jaskova by the score 8-4. The No. 2 doubles match was a bit closer, but still went in the win column for Tarleton State. In the match TSU’s Chrissie Cooper and Melanie Zilles defeated the Aggie duo of Megan deBlonk and Viviana Seca.
“I knew it was going to be very tough to win the overall match after dropping each of the doubles matches, but there was still a chance,” Coach Helvey said. “They just played better than we did today and they will be moving on because of it.”
With Tarleton State going up 3-0 after doubles, they needed just two more victories to seal that match and their fourteenth win of the year. TSU got their wish in the No. 3 and No. 6 singles match, to win the day 5-0.
Cameron’s Viviana Seca lost the No. 3 singles match 6-1, 6-1, to Tarleton State’s Adriana Jaskova. Whitney Renfurm followed suit in the No. 6 singles match with a 6-0, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Evgeniya Prokofeva.
The remaining singles matches were not finished as they were not needed to clinch Tarleton State’s victory.
The first two rounds of the national tournament are the regional rounds and are played at various locations. The remaining rounds of the national event are played in Houston, Texas. Cameron’s matches today were played on the campus of the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
Cameron’s women’s tennis team will now enter the offseason training portion of their schedule in preparation for the fall 2008 season next September. This spring the Aggies will say goodbye to two seniors: Megan deBlonk of Emporia, Kansas, and Kim Romero of Thornton, Colorado.
“It was a great season and I couldn’t be more proud of my girls,” Coach Helvey said. “We had a lot of fun this year and played some absolutely phenomenal tennis. I will miss Megan and Kim very much.”
After receiving a first-round bye, the Cameron Aggie men’s tennis team hosts the Regional Championship tomorrow (Friday) at 10:30am at the CU Tennis Center. Cameron will face off with the Savage Storm of Southeastern Oklahoma State for the right to advance to the field of sixteen next week in Houston, Texas. CU and SOSU matched up just once during the regular season, with Cameron sweeping their way to a 9-0 victory.
For those Aggie fans unable to attend the match at CU, live game-by-game scoring will be available on the Cameron Athletics website (goaggies.cameron.edu).
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