Green Wave women’s tennis splits weekend series

Jeremy Rosen, Sports Editor

tulane women's tennis
 Courtesy of Parker Waters

Tulane women’s tennis went hot and cold over their past two weekend series, going 2-2 over two weeks. The Green Wave has maintained their position in the American Athletic Conference 6-8 record so far this spring, hanging around the middle of the pack. 

The team traveled to Denton, Texas and swept a shorthanded University of North Texas Mean Green squad, the No. 69 team in the country. UNT was only able to field five healthy players that weekend, so they were forced to forfeit two singles and one doubles match. Three more singles matches were declared unfinished due to further injuries. Adelaide Lavery won the only completed singles match, going 6-4 and then 6-0. 

Two days later, the Green Wave left to take on the neighboring Southern Methodist University Mustangs but lost all matchups against the No. 59 ranked team. Top duo Charlotte Russell and Lahari Yelamanchili won their doubles match 6-2, but the other doubles partners lost their matches. The Mustangs soundly won all three of the completed singles matches.

This past weekend, the Green Wave returned home to host the Gonzaga University Bulldogs at City Park Tennis Center, where they suffered a close 2-4 loss. Russell and Kristen Borland each performed well in their singles matches, soundly defeating their competitors. Yelamanchili and Lavery each put up strong fights but both fell in two close sets. Sophomore Brooke Theis entered an extremely competitive series against Gonzaga’s Rose Hayes. The players were very evenly matched, and the game went into back-to-back 7-point tiebreakers. Hayes won the first set after a 7-2 tiebreaker game, but Theis bounced back with a 7-5 tiebreaker win the following set. Theis became exhausted after the extensive extra rallies and lost the decisive set 0-6.

The Green Wave capped off the weekend with a strong 5-2 victory over the No. 62 Wichita State University Shockers. Lavery, Russell and Jiayun Zhu all won their matchups in an efficient two sets. Theis put the team over the top after winning the No. 6 matchup in two sets. The team victories over UNT and WSU mark the team’s two victories against ranked opponents this season. 

This weekend Tulane will host the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes at City Park. The contest against Tulsa will be broadcast on ESPN+ this Sunday at 12 p.m.

Leave a Comment