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Women
win 10th in a row In its match against TCU Thursday, the North Texas women’s tennis team tried to make the Frogs beat themselves. Try as they might, the Eagles were unsuccessful. The No. 26 Horned Frogs defeated North Texas, 6-1, at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center to extend their winning streak to 10 matches. The Frogs won all three doubles matches and the No. 1 through 5 singles matches against UNT. TCU head coach Roland Ingram said that although the Frogs played well, they needed to stay focused to win the match. “The (UNT) players wanted to make (us) hit as many balls as possible,” Ingram said. “As a result, my players got a little sloppy and a little lazy. It’s a good time to practice concentration and discipline on the court.”
The Frogs’ concentration netted them a convincing victory over the Eagles. In singles, No. 98 Paty Aburto, a freshman at TCU, extended her winning streak to nine matches with a, 6-2, 6-0, victory against UNT’s Kristin Beedy at the No. 3 position. At the No. 1 spot, sophomore Rosa Perez defeated the Eagles’ Melissa Hodges, 6-2, 6-1, and at No. 2, junior Leoni Weirich had a straight-set victory against Catherine Alain of UNT. In doubles, the TCU pairing of Perez and freshman Saber Pierce recorded its 19th win this season, defeating UNT’s duo of Benita Bittner and Natalie Clore, 8-2. The Eagles’ only win came at the No. 6 singles position, where UNT’s Christine Huynh defeated freshman Emily Waters, 6-1, 6-2. Despite the loss, UNT’s head coach Dawna Denny said that she thought her players performed well. “They fought really hard,” Denny said. “(The Horned Frogs) just outplayed us today.” Ingram agreed that the Eagles put a solid effort forward. “They played us closer than I thought they would,” Ingram said. “We did have to win the points, and the points they won were mostly on our errors.” Denny said playing TCU is a good experience for reasons beyond getting to face a talented team. “They’re polite girls,” Denny said. “It doesn’t sound that important, but it actually matters.” Ingram said the next four matches the Frogs have will be tough. The first match will be against Houston at home on Saturday. Ingram said lately he is more threatened by the Cougars than he was originally. “I thought Houston was down this year, but they just beat Tulane,” Ingram said. “Thank God for the Internet.” The match will be at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center at 11 a.m. and will offer Ingram a chance at his 300th win. Ingram is 299-149 in his 18 seasons coaching at TCU.
John Weyand |
