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For
Immediate Release: February 27, 2002 TEXAS
A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI EDGES LADY BRONCS
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX –You can’t blame The University of Texas-Pan American Head Coach Todd Chapman if he doesn’t wan’t to see the score 4-3 any more this season. His Lady Broncs dropped their third consecutive match by that score, falling to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon. The doubles point was crucial, and it was decided by the slimmest of margins. Sophomore Celine Merlini (Vevey, Switzerland/Cessev HS) and junior Elisabet Mateos (Barcelona, Span/Arnau Cadell HS/Laredo CC) lost their number one doubles match to Felice Sanchez and Jessica Martinez in a tie-breaker, while senior Eve Nickelson (Franklin, TX/Franklin HS/Temple JC) and sophomore Jessica Brown (Sioux City, IA/North HS) lost to Kelli Kukk and Katie Horne at number two doubles, 8-6. Freshman Ana Pena (McAllen, TX/Nikki Rowe HS) was UTPA’s only double winner. She teamed with freshman Kathryn Waslen (Calgary, AB/ West Island College) to defeat Ellian Rohrbacher and Cassiana Costa at number three doubles, 8-6 and defeated Costa at number six singles, 6-3, 6-0. “It’s tough to lose 4-3 matches, and that’s our third in a row,” said Chapman. “The doubles point was crucial, and we lost one match in a tie-breaker and the other 8-6, and they both could have gone either way. We are improving, and we’re gaining some confidence, which is important with a young team without a lot of match experience. We played better in singles, but we got off to a bit of a slow start in the doubles, and it cost us.” The Lady Broncs dropped to 1-5 with the defeat, while the Lady Islanders improved to 4-6. UTPA will return to action when they travel to McNeese State this weekend. TEXAS
A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 4, TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 3
DOUBLES 1-Felice Sanchez and Jessica Martinez, TAMU-CC,
defeated Celine Merlini and Elisabet Mateos, 9-8 2-Kelli Kukk and Katie Horne, TAMU-CC, defeated Eve Nickelson and Jessica Brown, 8-6. 3-Kathryn Waslen and Ana Pena UTPA, defeated
Ellian Rohrbacher and Cassiana Costa, 8-6. SINGLES 1-Merlini, UTPA, defeated Sanchez, 7-5, 6-2. WTTAMUCC022702 |