RICHARDSON, Texas – The Linfield women's tennis team ended its season with a loss to the University of Texas-Dallas Comets on Friday, falling 5-1 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 34 in the ITA National Rankings heading into the tournament, end the year with a record of 14-3 after going an unbeaten 8-0 in conference play and sweeping their way through the Northwest Conference tournament.
UT-Dallas (12-2), ranked 29
th in the country and the host school of the five-team regional tournament, advance to play No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer (19-2), with the winner advancing to the round of 16 to play the winner of No. 16 Redlands (10-7) and No. 14 Trinity (14-8).
DOUBLES
Linfield immediately felt pressure from UT-Dallas in the opening flight of doubles play, as the top-seeded Wildcat pairing of
Tessa Kern and
Lexie Matsunaga lost 8-1 to the Comets' No. 1 duo of Samantha Wong and Elyssa Ducret. It was just the third loss in 13 matches played together this season for Kern and Matsunaga.
The Wildcats' one win of the day came in the No. 2 doubles flight, with
Taryn Fujimori and
Maggie Fiocchi winning 8-4 over Rebecca Jackson and Saumya Vedula to even the match score at 1-1.
The win marked 11 straight for Fiocchi and Fujimori to end the season and set their final record on the year as a pair at a team-best 12-2.
The No. 3 doubles flight was hard-fought but eventually saw the Comets earn the point, as Suzuka Nishino and Megan Zeng toppled
Sarah Forester and
Emma Tuttle 8-5 to set the match score at Comets 2, Wildcats 1, at the conclusion of doubles play.
SINGLES
UT-Dallas would end up controlling all the action through singles play, quickly starting off with a win in the top-flight as Wong knocked off Kern 6-2, 6-0.
The No. 2 flight saw a similar outcome as Fujimori fell to Nishino 6-0, 6-3, setting the score at 4-1 Comets and putting UT-Dallas within one win of taking the match.
It was the action in the No. 4 flight that sealed the victory for the Comets. Although Forester put up a strong performance in the first set, Ducret rolled to a win in the second set to take the flight 6-4, 6-0 and win the match for Comets, 5-1.
Flights No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 went unfinished as they were in progress at the time of Ducet's match-sealing win. The No. 3 flight was well-contested with Vedula leading Matsunaga 6-3, 3-2, as was the No. 5 flight, where Jackson also led
Allena Wong 6-3, 3-2.
Fiocchi was the only Wildcat in front at the match's conclusion, leading Tisha Nakakes-Nguyen 6-4 in the No. 6 flight.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Wildcats retain the bulk of their team in 2023, but will graduate key contributors Kern and Fiocchi. Reigning NWC Coach of the Year
Ella Riddle Maliska will look to players like Fujimori, Matsunaga and Wong to lead Linfield to a sixth consecutive NWC Championship next spring.
