Box Score
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State Bearkats had to work around a weather delay and a change and found themselves tied with Northwestern State before the Demons pulled out the doubles point to take the match, 4-3, on Saturday at The Woodlands Country Club.
Saturday's match was pushed up to 10 a.m. at the McAdams Tennis Center due to the likelihood of incoming inclement weather and the teams got midway through the first set of singles play before Mother Nature forced a stoppage of play.
The teams then relocated to the south, restarting the match later in the afternoon indoors at The Woodlands Country Club. The Bearkats quickly found themselves in great position, spotting itself a 3-0 lead behind singles wins from Ema Barkovic, Carrie Casey and Khee Yen Wee.
Sam Houston was on the verge of clinching the match as both Fabienne Gettwart and Mila Milanovic held third-set leads on the Nos. 1 and 5 courts; however, Northwestern State's Polina Ivanova was able to muster up a rally to steal the match from Gettwart and Vladislava Litvinova did the same thing on her side to keep the Demons alive.
In all, Sam Houston had nine match points in singles play that would have sewn up the upset over last year's SLC runner-up.
“I was very proud of the way the team competed against the No. 2 team in the conference from last year,” head coach Rob Hubbard said after the match. “From the start we were very focused and picked up right where we left off in the win over SFA. Unfortunately, we did not finish them off when we had the match points on our racquets. Hopefully we learn a little more about ourselves and can use that to our advantage in the future.”
On the No. 6 line, Diane Friedrichs pushed Judit Castillo to a decisive third set before falling and sending the match to the doubles point, tied 3-3.
In doubles play each match was tied at 3-3 early on before Northwestern State was able to pull away and clinch the match in comeback fashion.
Sam Houston will hit the road for its first Southland match away from home on Sunday when it battles Abilene Christian in a noon first serve. The Kats will then return home for three straight home matches, beginning Wednesday, March 15 with a non-conference match against Cleveland State that is scheduled to be played at the Walden Tennis Center in Conroe.
