Kats Look For Lucky Win 13 Saturday
4/20/2018 6:59:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MATCH 18
Saturday, April 21 • Thiboduax, La. • 1:00 p.m.
Colonels Tennis Center
Sam Houston (12-5, 7-3) vs. Nicholls (11-10, 2-8)
THIBODAUX, LA. – The Sam Houston women's tennis team is looking to make 13 a lucky number Saturday when the Bearkats complete their regular season schedule versus Nicholls.
A victory would be the 13th for the Kats this year, a new school record. Sam Houston currently ranks as one of seven Bearkat teams that have posted 12 dual match wins in one season. This year's 12-5 mark joins the other 12-win slates that came in 1983, 1984, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2012.
First serve at the Colonel Tennis Complex is at 1 p.m. A victory also earns Sam Houston a top four seed in the upcoming Southland Conference tournament in Beaumont Friday through Sunday, April 27-29.
Sam Houston, 7-3 in league play after a pair of wins at home last weekend versus New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana, now stands alone in fourth place in the Southland Conference race. Since the league expanded to more than five teams in 1992, Sam Houston earned a top four seed in the tournament only twice before (No. 3 seed in 2006 and No. 2 in 2007).
Other superlatives already in the bag for the 2018 Kats include a 9-0 perfect record at the McAdams Center this spring. Never before in its 30-year NCAA Division I history has a Sam Houston tennis team gone unbeaten at home.
Clinching a post-season berth two weekends ago, the Bearkats will be making a second consecutive appearance in the tournament after a trip to Beaumont in Rob Hubbard's first season as Sam Houston head coach in 2017. Since the current head-to-head team format was adopted by the league in 2000, the Kats have earned tournament berths 12 times.
In addition, four of the Bearkats senior players – Mila Milanovic, Fabienne Gettwart, Carrie Casey and Khee Yen Wee have fought their way into the program's all-time top 25 in both singles and doubles individual victories. Two newcomers, sophomore Lusine Chobanyan and freshman Sahaja Yamalapalli, have stepped forward to lead the 2018 team in dual match singles wins with victory totals of 15 and 13, respectively. Freshman Wendy French has stepped into an important role in doubles for the Kats.
“This is a big match for us Saturday and it's not going to be an easy one,” Hubbard said. “Nicholls is dangerous. They upset Central Arkansas in Conway. This is their last home match of the year and they will be ready to play. We have to remain focused on the things they have made us successful so far this season.”
Saturday's match at Nicholls originally was scheduled for April 7 but was postponed due to rain. Two other league contests wrap up the 2018 regular season slate as Stephen F. Austin travels to Incarnate Word and A&M-Corpus Christi takes on Northwestern State in Louisiana.
McNeese (10-1) already has clinched a tie for the regular season championship. A&M-Corpus Christi (9-1) could end up as co-champs with the Cowgirls with a win over third place Northwestern State (8-2). Sam Houston (7-3) ranks fourth followed by Central Arkansas (7-4) and Abilene Christian (7-4). New Orleans (4-7) will be the seventh seed at Beaumont while UIW (3-7) can punch its ticket to the tournament with a win versus the Lumberjacks.
SERIES RECORD WITH NICHOLLS
Sam Houston leads the all-time series with the Colonels 18-9. The Bearkats have won the pair's last two meetings by scores of 6-1 in Huntsville last spring and 5-2 in Thibodaux in 2016.
