RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Returning to action after a near three-week hiatus, the Arkansas Tech women's tennis team showed hardly any rust and played No. 35-ranked Angelo State to the brink, narrowly losing by a score of 4-3 on Thursday afternoon out at the Chartwells Women's Sports Complex.
With windy conditions that featured gusts up to 25 miles per hour, it was determined the match would be decided as soon a team won the clinching fourth point, potentially leaving matches unfinished. Despite that, all three doubles matches took place and finished as well as all six singles matches.
In doubles action, the Rambelles (11-5) secured the point with hard-fought wins at flights 3 and 2. Doubles play continued on and the top flight match was a tightly-contested 7-6 decision that favored Angelo State.
Down 1-0 in the match, the Golden Suns (5-5) put forth a rally in singles play to claw their way back in.
Madalena Amil at No. 4 singles was the first to secure a point for the Golden Suns as she won her match 6-4, 6-2.
Daniela Baez followed suit and gave the Golden Suns a brief lead in the match as she won her No. 2 singles match 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Angelo State claimed No. 6 singles to knot the match score at two-all.
The advantage once more swung in favor of Tech at No. 3 singles as
Aastha Dargude won in straight sets 7-6, 6-2.
No. 5 singles was next to finish and the swing match narrowly went in favor of the Rambelles.
Maria Krite, who played No. 5 singles dropped the first set 4-6, but force a tie-breaking set after winning set two 6-3. In the tie breaker, Krite narrowly lost 7-5.
The attention then turned towards the top-flight singles court where a pair of nationally-ranked singles players were battling it out. Dianela Rodriguez, the No. 17-ranked singles player in DII, won the first set 6-1. Tech's
Lea Grinberg, who is ranked No. 65 in singles action, won the second set 7-5 to force the tie-breaker. Unfortunately, that third set went in favor of Rodriguez and Angelo State as she won 6-2, and in the process, giving the decisive fourth team point to the Rambelles.
The Golden Suns will now turn their attention directly to Great American conference action as their final four matches of the regular season are against GAC opponents. The first of those is an April 9 road match at Southern Arkansas. First-serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Magnolia.
