Women's Tennis | 2/16/2023 9:57:00 PM
Box Score
ROCKY MOUNT, NC – Want to hear something crazy? The North Carolina A&T women's tennis team came into its 2023 season opener losers of 31 straight matches. The Aggies also came into Thursday's match at North Carolina Wesleyan with only four active players because the other two were injured.
Want to hear something even crazier? They won.
The women's tennis team won the program's first match in nearly four years with a 5-2 win over the Battling Bishops at the Slick Foundation Tennis Center. A&T's last win came on March 19, 2019, when they defeated Morgan State 4-3. It's their first road win since winning 7-0 at North Carolina Central on March 28, 2018.
The Aggies won despite having to forfeit single matches five and six and the third doubles match. However, the Aggies still took the doubles point as sophomore Cielo Tapia-Cruz and freshman Nuria Sanz defeated took down the Battling Bishops duo of Kristal Dule and Andrea Elias 8-7 (7-4 in the tiebreaker), and freshmen Lana Caculovic and Asima Sazan took down Julie Schoorsmans and Bethan Fothergill 8-7 (7-2).
A&T then turned its attention to dominating singles performances. At No. 1, Caculovic defeated Dule in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4. Tapia-Cruz improved to 7-5 in her singles career with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Elisa Mariotti. The Aggies clinched the win when Sanz beat Elias 6-2, 6-2. Sazan made it four consecutive straight-set wins with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Cristina Mendoza.
"This is a great day for the women's program to finally get a win after losing for so long," said A&T head coach Ansel Bivens. "I am moved in my soul by their effort today because down a few Aggies with injuries, it would have been easy to lose, but we chose to fight. We are rebuilding step by step, and we are a different team with a different vision for ourselves. They are hungry for wins."
