Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University
SUMTER, S.C. – Friday at the USTA/ITA
National Small College Championships, Texas Lutheran women's tennis
player Sofia
Vega (Corpus Christi/Flour Bluff) lost to No. 3 seed
Andrea Madrigal of La Verne (Calif.) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Madrigal fought off three match points in the second set.
"I feel like this is deja vu or something," said Michael
Hunt, TLU's head coach for women's and men's tennis.
"Although the opponents had very different playing styles, this
match laid out very similarly to yesterday's. Another three-hour
plus match, another three-setter. Another chance for Sofia to win
it in straight sets, and another opponent who played better with
her back against the wall."
"I feel so badly for Sofia because she wants to win so badly for
all the right reasons. She wants to represent TLU on the national
level and help raise our profile in both tennis and overall. She
wants to win for her teammates and for her coaches and her family.
She has played so well in this tournament and twice now put herself
within 1 or 2 points from winning matches in straight sets. She
could very easily be in the championship match tomorrow instead of
the 7th place match. It is really a matter of probably two, maybe
three, points from being there."
Vega, a junior, and Madrigal each dropped matches Thursday in the
main draw first round and continued tournament play Friday in the
consolation draw.
Vega was down 4-3 and a break in the first set before rallying to
break twice and win three consecutive games. Vega claimed the set
with a break at love in the 10th game.
In the second set, Vega held serve twice and broke Madrigal to take
a 3-0 lead. Madrigal broke right back and overcame a 4-3 deficit to
win the second set 7-5.
Madrigal broke Vega to start the third set and registered another
break to push ahead 3-0. The two traded service breaks to give
Madrigal a 4-1 edge.
Vega, the No. 2 seed, will close out the championships with a 10:30
a.m. eastern Saturday match in the consolation draw against top
seed Caroline Ward, who fell 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the consolation
semifinal to Rebecca Ho of Washington-St. Louis.
The match will determine seventh and eighth places for the
tournament.
Madrigal faces Ho at 10:30 a.m. eastern to determine fifth and
sixth places.
Wisconsin-Whitewater's Megan Humphreys, who defeated Vega in the
main draw first round, faces Ashnaa Rao of John Hopkins at 8:30
a.m. eastern Saturday for the small college title.
Vega opened the tournament on Wednesday with a straight-set win
over Courtney Lawless of Whitman College (Wash.). Although seeded
second, Vega was placed in the play-in match for a second straight
year.
In Thursday's first round of the main draw, Vega fell in three sets
– 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 – to Humphreys. The match between Vega
and Humphreys was the longest of the day, taking three hours, 37
minutes.
