HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Sam Houston State Bearkats kicked off the 2017 season on Friday, sweeping past Prairie View A&M, 7-0, at the McAdams Tennis Center.

The Bearkats (1-0), playing in their first match under the direction of new head coach Rob Hubbard, swept doubles play before doing the same in in the singles side of the match, dropping just two sets to the Panthers (0-1).

Sam had no trouble in staking itself to a 1-0 advantage after doubles play as the No. 1 duo of Mila Milanovic and Carrie Casey rolled by Shaddae Findley and Neharika Rama 6-4 in the top spot in the lineup Fabienne Gettwart and Khee Yen Wee then teamed up to sweep past Timara Maxwell and Sydney Thomas, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles while Ema Barkovic and Diane Friedrichs took a 7-5 win over Tatiana Ruhl and Stacy Lackey in the No. 3 spot.

Singles play went much the same with the Kats picking up all six points to pick up the win. Gettwart, who won 11 matches at No. 1 singles last season, needed three sets but outlasted Rama (5-7, 6-3, 10-8). Barkovic followed with a (6-1, 6-2) sweep of Thomas in the No. 2 slot and Wee pulled out a convincing (6-1, 6-3) win over Lackey at No. 3 singles.

Casey and Milanovic took care of business at Nos. 4 and 5 singles with Casey taking down Findley (6-2, 6-0) and Milanovic downing Maxwell by a 6-1, 6-3 count. Friedrichs, a freshman from Germany, finished things off with a 3-6, 7-6, 11-9 win over Ruhl in the No. 6 spot for her first singles win as a Bearkat.

The Kats will look to sweep the weekend on Sunday when they take on UT Rio Grande Valley on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the McAdams Tennis Center.