ORLANDO, Fla. – Chicago State women's tennis rallied for a 4-3 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday (March 16) in the Cougars' final contest in Florida during their spring break trip.
The Cougars fell behind 1-0 early after dropping doubles matches at No. 1 and No. 3 to lose the doubles point.
A 6-3, 6-4 victory by senior
Ruta Grinvalde (Cesis, Latvia/) over Elysia Ortiz 6-3, 6-4 knotted the score at one. Junior
Mysta Townsell (Gardnerville, Nev./Douglas) put CSU up 2-1 by winning at No. 6 singles 7-5, 6-1.
“I'm very proud of Mysta,” Chicago State head coach
Jack Barton said. “She got her first collegiate victory during a match that helped us win as a team.”
The Rattlers won at No. 5 and No. 3 to take the lead back 3-2.
Freshman
Carynne Lloyd (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) used a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 win at No. 2 to tie it up again at 3-3. The match came down to No. 1 singles where freshman
Marnie Perez-Ochoa (Louisville, Ky./Male) held off Bethany Holt 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to clinch the match. Perez-Ochoa was up 4-1 in the third before Holt rallied to force a third set tiebreaker that Perez-Ochoa would ultimately win.
“During Marnie's third set tiebreaker her contest was deciding the match,” Barton said. “And she came through again winning it for the team.”
Florida A&M falls to 3-6 while Chicago State improves to 5-13.
“We didn't reach our goal of going undefeated in Florida but we had some great positives this week in Florida,” Barton said. “Carynne went 3-0 and in doubles Marnie and Ruta went 3-0.”
The Cougars look to build on their positives April 3 against Eastern Illinois.
