The UTD women’s tennis team defeated LeTourneau 8-1 on March 20 in their first ASC matchup before shutting out McMurry 9-0 on March 24. However, their winning streak ended with a 4-3 loss to Missouri-St. Louis on March 25. 

Against LeTourneau, the Comets won two of their three doubles matches to start the day’s play. Saumya Vedula and Rebecca Jackson, Megan Zeng and Elyssa Ducret and Jhastine Red Ballado and Elsha Valluru won all their matches by a margin of at least four games. The Comets defeated the Yellowjackets in all six singles matches, and all but one match was settled in only two sets. Zeng, Vedula, Casso and Rogers each only dropped three games or less. 

Against McMurry, all three doubles pairs defeated their opponents, with Ducret and Zeng only dropping one game. The Comets breezed through the singles matches, winning all six. No player needed more than two sets to win, in a season first.  

“Our singles the past few games have really been helping us clinch the matches,” Ducret said. “It’s something I’m pretty impressed about with the team this year.” 

The win streak ended after UTD was defeated by Division II opponent Missouri-St. Louis, where the Comets lost all three doubles matches. Vedula and Jackson came the closest to winning by ending the game at 6-4. The Comets then won three of their six singles matchups – freshman Riya Matharoo, Ducret and Valluru were the victors. 

After the games, several Comets jumped positions in UTD’s all-time leaderboards. Jackson leapt to second on the career doubles wins leaderboard with 40 wins and tied for fifth in singles victories. Vedula is now tied for third after her 39th doubles win and tied for seventh with her 29th singles win. Ducret improved to a tie for eighth after her 29th doubles victory.  

Ducret said that the Comets have done a good job adapting to different playing environments, including away games and weather conditions. 

“It’s not affecting us mentally or physically,” Ducret said. “We keep pushing and adjusting based on what we have and what’s‘’ given to us.” 

The Comets are now 3-4 and will look to bring their record back to .500 in Arkansas against Ozarks on March 29. They will then play two home games against Utah Tech and Howard Payne on April 2 and April 4 respectively. 

“We need to keep our heads up and focus on the game,” Ducret said. “There’s more of a drive now that we’ve seen what we can bring.”