The women’s tennis team was only scheduled to play once this season at the new Elliot Tennis Center, but after finally beating Nebraska-Kearney to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament, the ladies hosted the D-II Regional match this weekend against Winona State. With a trip to nationals in Altamonte Springs, Fla. on the line, the Mavericks took advantage of the homecourt advantage and won the match 5-0.

“It’s a real nice advantage to play here on campus,” Coach Dan MacDonald said. “It’s a new court, so the ball moves nice and slow and we are used to it. We also get the benefits of having the local support and not having to deal with hotels and not dealing with food situations.”

Mesa State started out by dominating the doubles matches, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. With the early lead, the girls knew their business wasn’t over yet.

“It’s big that we started 3-0,” MacDonald said. “Usually the lead is only 2-1, so the big lead is nice. As long as we don’t mess around, the lead should be just fine.”

With just two singles wins away from advancing to nationals, senior Kate Lowder started out hot by winning her match in just two sets. With Cyndle Curfman, Victoria Sargent and Kaitlan Sera all nearing matchpoints in their matches, Sera was able to not only seal the deal for her match, but she punched the ticket for the team to compete for a national championship.
“It was really cool to end regionals,” Sera said. “We worked so hard last year and and we were so close. This year we had to win RMAC just to be considered. I didn’t even think I would get the matchpoint because Victoria and Cyndle were so close. But now we are very close to what we want.”

Nationals start in the middle of finals week, but the girls won’t be in a classroom taking tests. They will be focused on bringing Mesa State its first national championship in school history.

“We are very excited for Florida,” Sera said. “I’m hoping we can bring it all home, but we will have to see. I don’t know how the competition will be, but we are ready.”

ahimes@mesastate.edu