Sports editor Jaralynn Tammi Morellano says tennis did nothing but serve this weekend.
Simultaneous with the Golden Hurricane’s success in softball, The University of Tulsa’s tennis programs were earning victories of its own just next door. The men’s and women’s teams faced Lindenwood and North Texas, respectively.
The first to grab its victory was the strong women’s program that took down North Texas 4-1. Despite the turnout, the beginning was rough for the Golden Hurricane. With its only doubles points coming from the classic duo Maria Berlanga Bandera and Lily Hutchings, North Texas rose out of this part of the competition with the doubles point.
This game was a milestone in Hutchings’ career. This doubles victory marked the 100th victory in her collegiate career as a Golden Hurricane. She is the second person on the team to pass this mark, the other being her one and only partner, Berlanga.
Once the singles rounds began, the Golden Hurricane blew the Mean Green off its pedestal to steal victories in each finished game in the contest. Each game was completed in only two sets. The first player to end their match was Tayla Wilmot and her victory tied the score for Tulsa. Erin McKenzie followed shortly, her quick victory over Lilly Schultz putting the Golden Hurricane ahead in the competition.
Berlanga took the top spot to put the Golden Hurricane at a comfortable 3-1 lead. Hutchings may have finished last amongst these competitions but with a 6-0 blowout start in her first set, she was able to finish strong with a 6-4 performance in the last set to put Tulsa 4-1. The final contests were left unfinished, and the Golden Hurricane was able to pile another victory onto its record.
The men’s tennis team finished off the Golden Hurricane’s trifecta with an impressive 7-0 sweep over Lindenwood in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
It was able to quickly secure wins in the first and third positions. The win to clinch the doubles point was taken by No. 37 Pierce Rollins and Timothy Carlsson Seger when the duo beat Nathan Matsuguma and Bernardo Henriques 6-4. Despite these results, the second position played it out, and the Lions took a single win. Unfortunately for Lindenwood, this would end up being its only victory during its Friday campaign.
The Golden Hurricane kicked up a storm in singles play, none of the games being taken to a third set as Tulsa steamrolled the competition in only two sets for each game. Seger started off the Golden Hurricane’s campaign with a perfect 6-0, 6-0 finish against Fernando Martin Paz. He was followed by Victor Tosetto, who took the sixth position 6-2, 6-1, and senior Callum Gale who brought the score 4-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 finish in the third position.
The game was finished off with straight-set wins from Thiago Pernas, Volodymyr Zakharov and No. 80 Rollins. With a squeaky clean victory, the men’s tennis team topped off the sweet cake of victory cooked up by the combined efforts of the Golden Hurricane athletics.
As if it did not serve enough that day, the men’s tennis team continued on to defeat Temple 4-0 and reign victory over Lindenwood once more 4-0.
