GOLDEN SUNS TENNIS PERFORMS WELL AT COLLIN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S FALL TOURNAMENT

        PLANO, Texas – The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns Tennis team had two first place finishers and two outstanding performances here this weekend at the 17th Annual Collin County Community College Fall Tournament.

Sophomore Tahnee Crous (Keller, Texas) won the Flight 2 Singles title as she went 4-0 over the two-day tournament, while junior Karissa Lentz (Norco, Calif.) won the Flight 5 Singles title with a 4-0 record. In addition, junior Puja Paul (Kolkata, West Bengal India) took home the Flight 3 Singles consolation title after posting a 3-1 singles record and junior Whitney Simmons (Pottsville, Ark.) lost in the semifinals of the Flight 4 Singles and finished with a 2-1 record.

“This is the best the Golden Suns have performed in this tournament since I have been coaching here,” Tech Women’s Tennis Coach Abby Davis said. “All four the girls had outstanding performances and I’m proud of their efforts.”

In Flight 2 singles, Crous opened the tournament with a win over Southern Arkansas’ Nelly Tualla (6-2, 6-2) and then earned a third-set tiebreaker win over No. 3 seed Brittany Billings of Dallas Baptist (6-4, 3-6, 10-3). In the semifinals, she defeated top-seeded Sophia Sawka of Collin County (1-6, 6-3, 10-5) and then won the championship with a straight sets win (6-2, 6-4) over No. 4 seed Christine Wehrli of Dallas Baptist.

“The win over Sawka in the semifinals was probably the biggest Tahnee has had in her young career at Tech,” Davis said. “She played very focused and consistent the entire tournament.”

In Flight 5 singles, Lentz opened with a straight set win over Hailee Belz of Dallas Baptist (6-2, 6-0) and advanced to semifinals with a win over Temple College’s Chelsea Melton (6-1, 6-0). In the semifinals, she defeated North Central Texas College’s Morgan Hoffman in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) and then won the title with a win over Oklahoma Baptist’s Peige Davis (6-4, 6-3).

“Karissa played her game and frustrated all four of her opponents by being very consistent,” the Tech coach said. “In the semifinal match, Karissa took the hard-hitting Morgan out of her game and never allowed her to get into any kind of rhythm.”

Paul took home the Flight 3 singles consolation title with a straight win (6-3, 6-1) over No. 4 seed Andrea Portillo of Collin County. Paul fell into the consolation bracket after losing her first match to No. 2 seed Tami Chadick of Southern Arkansas (6-2, 6-1). In the consolation bracket, she opened with an 8-3 win over Austin College’s Mica Tucker and then advanced to the finals with an 8-0 win over Molly Cariker.

“Puja did a really good job of rebounding in the consolations after losing in the first round of the main draw,” said Davis.

Simmons, a returning All-GSC Second-Team performer for the Golden Suns, lost in the semifinals of Flight 4 singles to No. 2 seed Erica Blakley of North Central Texas College (6-2, 6-1). Simmons began the tournament with a straight set win (6-2, 6-3) over Southern Arkansas’ Megan Phinny and then collected a huge win over third-seeded Charity Johns of Collin County (7-6, 6-2).

“Whitney had a great run in Flight 4 and was able to knock out the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals, before losing to the No. 2 seed in the semifinals,” the coach added.

In addition to playing singles competition, the Golden Suns also played doubles as Crous and Lentz teamed together to lose in the finals of the Flight 1 doubles consolation and went 2-2, while Simmons and Paul lost in the semifinals of Flight 2 doubles (8-5) to the No. 2 seeded team of Bertha Lee Perez and Manuella Viana.

Tech will conclude it fall season on October 13 when it hosts University of Ozarks in a 3 p.m. match at Russellville’s Old Post Park. 

-- Tech Athletics --