JACKSON, Miss. – The University of West Alabama men's and women's tennis teams picked up a pair of wins on Saturday against Mississippi College and Tougaloo College. The Tiger men pounced on MC, 8-1 and blanked TC, 9-0. UWA's women's squad turned in a 5-4 win over the Choctaws of MC and shutout TC, 9-0.
In the men's match at MC, the Tigers took a quick 2-1 advantage after doubles play. The UWA tandem of Danish Ahmad and Lucas Cruz made quick work of MC's Cory Seay and Jerrod Rayborn, 8-2. James Gardner and Juan Felipe Tellez topped MC's pairing of Walter Freeman and Jacob Womack, 8-5. MC's lone point of the match came at the No. 1 doubles position. MC's Patrick Stanton and John Downing downed UWA's duo of Alvaro De La Torre and Lucas Nunes, 8-2. De La Torre rebounded in singles play to claim a three-set win over Downing, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Ahmad breezed past Freeman at the No. 4 spot, 6-0, 6-0. Tellez, Gardner and Cruz all picked up straight sets wins.
After dropping the two out of the three doubles points, the UWA women claimed four of the six singles matches to overcome the 2-1 deficit after doubles. Angy Cuellar defeated Andrea Boyles 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. At No. 3, Brittney Bowden downed MC's Marigrace Deloach, 6-4, 6-2. Emily Gerding and Katy Shoptaugh rounded out the points for UWA, winning at No. 5 and 6 respectively.
Against TC, the Tigers gave up just five games in the entire match. De La Torre, Gardner and Cruz all were credited with 6-0, 6-0 wins in singles. In the women's duel, Bowden and Shoptaugh blanked TC's Carmen Burton and Maya May. Cuellar and Courtney McDonald also turned in an 8-0 win in doubles. Gerding and Brittany Harris battled TC's Charity Foster and Rukiya Umoja before claiming a 9-8 win. UWA swept singles play with all matches won in straight sets.
UWA returns to the courts on Thursday, March 4 against North Georgia in Dahlonega, Ga. Match time is set for 1 p.m. CST.
