Spring Break: Athenas Played Three Matches and Ended Losing Streak With Final Win Against Hardin-Simmons

The Athenas spent the first half of their spring break Saturday through Tuesday (3/13 - 3/16) on the court practicing hard in preparation of three back-to-back days of matches. After a great practice Saturday morning to recover from their loss against UT Tyler, the ladies were immediately thrown into battle Sunday morning against the nation's #1 NCAA Div. III team: Amherst College. Though they lost 9-0 to Amherst, each Athena feel that they played solid against the #1 ranked team. #3 Athenas doubles team, Caroline Daly and Alle Hsu, put up a great fight against Jennifer Ouyang and Caroline Richman. #1 singles player, Jaclyn Smrecek pushed Amherst's top player Brittany Berckes, nationally ranked at #19, into a third-set tie-breaker before losing the match. Smrecek took the Athena's only set of the day with a score of 6-4 in the second set. Though defeated, the Athenas walked off the court with no regrets, understanding that they played their best. The final score a 9-0 loss against Amherst.

On Monday, March 15th (the following day), the Athenas were up against Salisbury University. They could not manage to get any wins in doubles, though #3 Alle Hsu and Caroline Daly fought hard in their pro-set until 7-7. They sadly let up two games and lost 9-7. In singles, the Athenas were victorious in three out of the six possible matches. #1 Jaclyn Smrecek had the quickest win of the match with a score of 6-2, 6-1. #3 Emilee Feldhausen and #5 Hannah Gordon also won their matches in straight sets. The Athenas' overall score against Salisbury was a 6-3 loss.

Tuesday, the last of their three-straight days of matches, the Athenas went head-to-head versus the Hardin-Simmons University Cowgirls. This was by far the most exciting and close match for the Athenas. In doubles, only #2 Emilee Feldhausen and Riley Thomlison won, putting CMS at a 1-2 disadvantage going into singles. Once singles were under way, the Athenas appeared to have a hold over the Cowgirls within the first couple of games, however, the fight quickly became harder. Both #2 Katie Lorish and #6 Riley Thomlison lost their first set. However, Riley figured out her opponent's game and quickly swept the next two sets 6-0 each. Katie fought long and hard for her eventual victory with a final 3-set score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. #5 Hannah Gordon won her first set and then went into a second set tie-breaker where she cut her opponent off from taking the match to a third set. 

Along with these initial three wins, #3 Emilee Feldhausen lost in straight sets and #1 Jaclyn Smrecek lost her lead of a 6-1 first set to lose in three sets with a final score of 6-1, 4-6, 1-6. Near the end of the day, Hardin-Simmons and CMS were tied at 4-4 with an intense deciding match between #4 Alle Hsu (pictured at the right) and the Cowgirl's #4 Brittany Brazell. Alle fought hard to win the first set 7-5. She appeared to have a hold on winning the match in the second set as she led by at least one game the entire set. However, at 6-5, Brittany Brazell pushed back and forced Alle into a 6-6 tie-breaker. Alle failed to win that tie-breaker and took the match to a final set. In realization that she hadn't won a singles match in the Athena's past 4 matches, Alle Hsu stepped up her mental game and began to play with an incredible amount of confidence and aggression. From 3-2 in the third set, Alle pushed right back with the support of the Athenas' cheering and found herself at match point 5-3. She seized that opportunity and won the deciding 9th singles match for the Athenas. There was an outburst of tears and joyful yelling after her victory from herself and teammates as the Athenas' three-match losing streak had stopped dead against a wall. The final score was 5-4 for the Athenas. It was a great ending to their tennis portion of spring break.

The CMS Athenas are now 6-3 overall, 3-0 in conference. Catch them Sunday, March 21st as they play against Mills College at 2pm.

Recap Score Tables from: www.itatennis.com
Click on Players' Names to See Individual Season Records