The UTD women’s tennis team crushed Ozarks 9-0 on March 29 before falling to Utah Tech 6-1 on April 2. They bounced back with a dominant performance against Howard Payne on April 4, winning 9-0 and remaining in first place in the ASC East.
Against Ozarks, the Comets easily won all three doubles matches to start the day’s play, only dropping one game out of 25 total. They also breezed through all six singles matches, only losing two games total. Riya Matharoo, Reika Nagai, Elyssa Ducret and Elsha Valluru all achieved flawless victories, winning every set they played.
“We’ve been doing pretty well in singles and doubles as well,” Matharoo said. “We’ve been going pretty strong as a team.”
The Comets’ momentum came to a stop with a tough 6-1 loss to Utah Tech. The Division I team defeated UTD in all three doubles matches. They lost in five of the six singles matches as well, with Ducret providing the sole victory in a close three set match.
“They were just more consistent and we weren’t ready for that,” Matharoo said. “The conditions that day were really horrible, it was extremely windy.”
UTD rebounded from the loss with another impressive victory against HPU. They swept the doubles matches before winning all six singles, not needing more than two sets in any match. Matharoo and Nagai again had flawless performances. Matharoo said that the friendship and chemistry she has with her teammates has augmented their play.
“We have really good, I would say like I said, camaraderie, as we’re playing, we’re all constantly cheering each other on,” Matharoo said. “This team is really tight knit, and that does play a huge role in how we perform.”
After the conclusion of the matches, a few Comets moved up on UTD’s all-time leaderboards. Saumya Vedula improved to seventh in singles wins with 30. Ducret captured her 33rd doubles victory, moving into seventh on the list. Megan Zeng also jumped on the doubles wins list, improving to ninth place. Kriti Parikh won her first duel match of the season.
The Comets will look to build on their impressive victories by continuing to play to their strengths. They travel to Abilene to take on Hardin-Simmons on April 12 before a home game against Concordia Texas two days later.
“We’re really excited,” Matharoo said. “We want to compete and we believe good results will follow.”
Advertisement
Advertisement
