Women’s Tennis Gets First Ever NCAA Win
May 2, 2008

CLAREMONT, Calif. – There is no doubt that the University of Texas at Tyler athletic teams will garner many wins in NCAA tournaments as time progresses, but the women’s tennis team will always be able to say they were the first. The No. 27 Patriots opened their quest for a National Championship with a 5-3 win over 25th-ranked Chapman on Friday afternoon in Claremont, California.

The day started off with doubles play, where the Patriots won two of the three matches. Both wins for UT Tyler came via a tie-breaker, as the teams of juniors Rachel Anders (Lindale, Texas) and Beth Launius (LaGrange, Texas) and senior Nicole Barrett (Allen, Texas) and freshman Michelle Hagler (Austin, Texas) put the Patriots on the board, 2-1.

The Panthers evened the score at two in singles play, when Beth Launius retired due to illness, despite being up when she withdrew.

Nicole Barrett and Michelle Hagler were the first to complete their matches and put their team within a point of victory. Barrett took down Chapman’s No. 4, Laura Robinson, 6-3, 6-1, while Hagler defeated the No. 3 flight, Sheehan Trippel, 6-0, 6-3.

The Panthers closed the gap to 4-3, when Elizabeth Lewis defeated Rachel Anders in the top flight.

During the ASC Championship match, the Patriots reached a decision before sophomore Brittany Ude (Corpus Christi, Texas) and freshman Lauren Giovannini (Dallas, Texas) could finish their respective matches. That was not the case on Friday, as the match rested squarely on the young duo’s shoulders.

However, the freshman and sophomore played like veterans, as Giovannini won her match, 6-3, 6-4 and Ude was within a game of winning her match before the decision was reached at 6-4, 5-1.

The Patriots now advance to the second round on Saturday where they will take on the 10th-ranked hosts, Pomona-Pitzer, at 11 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

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