ANDERSON, S.C. - Looking to bounced back after their 9-0 setbacks to nationally-ranked Columbus State on Thursday, Anderson University men's and women's tennis jumps back into South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday when it welcomes Catawba to the Upstate. First serve from Max Grubbs Memorial Courts is set for 1 p.m.
Three Is the Magic Number
AU enters the weekend with five players carrying three singles win,
as Mateo Rivas, Nicolas Ascarrunz, Paul Michael Calhoun, Inaki
Iriberry and Alex Wallace are 3-1 on the season. As a team, the
Trojans are 16-8 in the singles round for the season.
In doubles, the tandem of Ascarrunz and Calhoun are tied with Iriberry and Wallace for the team-lead in wins with three on the season. Rivas and Juan Carracedo, who have played No. 1 all season long, follow the two doubles teams with a pair of victories on the season.
For the season, Anderson has three team victories for the year, entering Saturday's match with a 3-1 record, headlined by an 8-1 conference win over Coker last Sunday.
Women's Tennis Looks to Return to Winning
Ways
After posting four straight victories to open the spring season,
marking its best start to a season in recorded program history, AU
fell to the national-ranked Cougars on Thursday. Junior Alexandra
Ebner was the only Trojan to push her singles match to three sets,
but could not pull off a win at the No. 4 position.
Currently, Ebner, sophomore Rebecca Bruning and senior Lindsay Gregory pace the squad with four singles triumphs on the season, as each player holds a 4-1 record. For the year, Anderson is 23-7 in singles matches and 5-1 in conference contests.
In doubles, the duo of Gregory and newcomer Mairead Cleary lead the team with four wins, including three straight at the No. 1 spot. The tandem's lone setback came on Thursday against Columbus State.
The Indians
Both the men's and women's teams enter the weekend with identical
1-1 spring records, as both clubs knocked off Johnson C. Smith to
begin the season, but dropped to Pfeiffer on Tuesday. Against the
Falcons, the men's team forced five third-set tiebreakers, but
could not capture the nonconference victory, falling 6-3. On the
women's side, Catawba was unable to score a team point, as the Lady
Indians were blanked by its in-state rival, 9-0.
Prior to the start of the season, the Catawba men's team was projected to finish ninth in the Preseason SAC Coaches' Poll, while he women's team was picked to the eighth spot in their respective poll. In addition to the ranking, Both teams failed to place a player on the preseason all-conference teams.
The Series
Since Anderson joined the SAC, both the men's and women's teams
hold perfect 4-0 records over Catawba in the regular season. Last
year, the men's team earned a 7-2 win over Catawba, while the
women's team claimed a hard-fought 5-4 triumph in Salisbury.
