Women's Tennis Closes Spring Break Road Trip with Third Straight Setback, 4-3 to Texas-Tyler

Posted: Mar 15, 2024

Orlando, Fla. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Tennis team closed its four-match spring break Sunshine State tour with its third straight setback, 4-3 at the hands of the University of Texas at Tyler on Friday.

STAC slips to 10-4 on the year, while UT-Tyler improves to 10-3.

Texas-Tyler took two out of three matches in doubles play with No. 1 Muskan Gupta & Yelena Kim beating Viktoriia Pavlovets & Kateryna Kryuchkova, 6-4 and the No. 3 team of Elisa Buhagiar & Luisa Moraes defeating Amanda Kadiri & Samanta Villegas Robles, 6-4. STAC staved off a clean sweep with a victory by the No. 2 pair of Elita Silins & Jemima Parkinson over Allison Schwartz & Kanika Sivaraman.

When the teams turned to singles action, STAC tied the match at 1-1 with an Amanda Kadiri 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Allison Schwartz at No. 2. The Patriots then scored a pair of victories at No.1 and No. 6, with Muskan Gupta beating Viktoriia Pavlovets 6-4, 6-3 and Elisa Buhagiar defeating Sun Zhuoxuan 6-4, 6-3 to take a commanding 3-1 advantage. However, the Spartans would rally back with No. 4 Samanta Villegas Robles besting Yelena Kim 6-3, 6-1 followed by No. 3 Elise Semmartin slipping past Kanika Sivaraman 6-1, 7-6 (4) to even the scoreboard at 3-3. Texas-Tyler would close things out with No. 5 Anna Melnik beating Elita Silins 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-3 to take the team victory.

TEXAS-TYLER 4/STAC 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Muskan Gupta & Yelena Kim (UTT) def. Viktoriia Pavlovets & Kateryna Kryuchkova (STAC), 6-4

2. Elita Silins & Jemima Parkinson (STAC) def. Allison Schwartz & Kanika Sivaraman (UTT)

3. Elisa Buhagiar & Luisa Moraes (UTT) def. Amanda Kadiri & Samanta Villegas Robles (STAC), 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*

SINGLES

1. Muskan Gupta (UTT) def. Viktoriia Pavlovets (STAC) 6-4, 6-3

2. Amanda Kadiri (STAC) def. Allison Schwartz (UTT) 6-2, 6-2

3. Elise Semmartin (STAC) def. Kanika Sivaraman (UTT) 6-1, 7-6 (4)

4. Samanta Villegas Robles (STAC) def. Yelena Kim (UTT) 6-3, 6-1

5. Anna Melnik (UTT) def. Elita Silins (STAC) 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-3

6. Elisa Buhagiar (UTT) def. Sun Zhuoxuan (STAC) 6-4, 6-3

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 6, 4, 3, 5*

UTT Record: 3-10, 0-0 LSC

STAC Record: 10-4, 4-1 ECC

THE ROCKHILL REPORT

"A similar theme today on the courts with the women's team", stated Head Coach Dan Rockhill. "We had enough to win so this one stings a little. Tyler was just able to step up a level in the last moments of the match."

"Amanda (Kadiri), Elise (Semmartin) and Samy (Villegas Robles) were terrific in singles but we just could not find the fourth point out there today", said Rockhill.

"We learned a lot of things to work on when we get back to Sparkill", remarked Rockhill. "If we can improve in these areas and continue to grow as a team, I think we can compete for a high regional seed in May. I really like this team. They are a wonderful group of young women on and off the courts."

UP NEXT

STAC heads back to New York and will spend a few days preparing for its next opponent, Fairleigh Dickinson University. The Spartans and Knights will square off in non-conference action on Sunday, March 24 (1:00 p.m.) at the Riley Family Tennis Courts in Sparkill.