ABILENE CHRISTIAN 5, INCARNATE WORD 0
Incarnate Word's women's tennis team closed out their season by reaching the finals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional championships when they came up short in the 5-0 loss to top-seeded Abilene Christian.
The Cardinals finished 16-5 tying their fourth best mark ever for a single season. The best ever was last year's 19-6. This time however UIW went one better than a year ago by reaching the finals, one win away from going back to the national tournament.
Abilene Christian got the fast start that every team thinks about. The Wildcats threw a shutout in the doubles by winning all three matches. They followed quickly with a pair of wins in singles at numbers two and five for the needed five team points.
Erica Engberg's 55 singles wins ties all-time UIW record.
UIW's Erica Engberg came away from the regional affair with mixed emotions. On the year she posted 14 wins in singles. That gave her a career total of 55 which tied the all-time Incarnate Word record for individuals. Veronica Gonzales won 55 times from 1990 to 1993.
The disappointing fact was Engberg, playing her final year, had two chances in the tournament to win in singles but both times the matches ended at the five-point limit before she could complete her personal match.
Singles
2. Julia Mongin, ACU, def. Stephanie Rodriguez, UIW, 6-0, 6-0
5. Hannah Kelley, ACU, def. Alex Adams, UIW, 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
1. Jaclyn Walker-Julia Mongin, ACU, def. Gretchen Trautmann-Adriana Hernandez, UIW, 8-1
2. Cassie Carver-Hannah Kelley, ACU, def. Erica Engberg-Alex Adams, UIW, 8-4
3. Dina Pavlin-Lauren White, ACU, def. Stephanie Rodriguez-Karen Rodriguez, UIW, 9-7