LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Freshman Elizabeth Hamlin came through in a pair of clutch situations to help lift the Tulane University women’s tennis team to a 4-3 win over New Mexico State Saturday afternoon at the NMSU Tennis Center.
With the doubles point lying in the balance of her and fellow rookie Anna Bartenstein’s Court 1 performance, Hamlin helped the Green Wave rally late for a 9-8 victory. Later, with the match knotted at 3-all, Hamlin won came through with a three-set victory in No. 6 singles action to give Tulane its first victory in its last five dual matches.
“Liz did an amazing job today,” Tulane head women’s tennis coach Terri Sisk said. “She did an outstanding job of remaining calm and focused, and really staying aggressive when she knew the match came down to her court. It is really taxing when you are playing a counter-puncher in these (high-altitude) conditions when you are not use to it, so she is to be commended for a job well done.”
New Mexico State took the first doubles match of the day as Laura Boguet and Natalia Salum defeated the Tulane combination of Marcela Fonseca and Jessica Lange, 8-1, on Court 3, but Tulane evened the point with a win on Court 2 where Mariam Kurdadze and Lindsay Dvorak downed NMSU’s Stephanie Eusebe and Isabela Kulaif, 8-3. The point came down to a tie-breaker on Court 1 where Hamlin and Bartenstein took the contest with a 7-3 decision.
“Our doubles point was critical today,” Sisk said. “We did a much better job of staying focused, playing to win and playing the big points well. Anna and Liz showed true heart today and really did a great job securing the 1-0 lead for us.”
The Aggies took three of the first five singles matches to tie the match, and the match came down to Hamlin’s performance in tie-breaker situations. Hamlin won her first set against Paula Zuniga 7-6 (7-3), but Zuniga rallied in the second set to tie the match with a 6-3 win. The third stanza would once again go to a tie-breaker, but once again, Hamlin had an answer with a 7-6 (8-6) decision to spark the Tulane celebration.
“I was pleased overall with the way we were able to really settle in and fight today,” Sisk said. “New Mexico State is a solid team and really put up a battle. It was interesting playing in an environment with high altitude. The balls would literally fly, so I thought we did a great job adjusting to those conditions since we have never encountered those as a team before.”
Bartenstein and Fonseca also posted singles wins for Tulane on the day, defeating Marks 6-1, 6-4 on Court 1 and Salum 7-5, 6-3 on Court 5, respectively. Boguet, meanwhile, downed Kurdadze 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 on Court 2, Eusebe defeated Dvorak 6-2, 6-2 on Court 3 and Costa rallied past Caroline Gerber 6-1, 6-4 on Court 4 to account for the Aggies’ points.
The Green Wave return to action on Sunday, March 29, when Tulane will battle host and Conference USA foe UTEP at 11 a.m. at the El Paso Tennis Club. From there, the Green Wave travel to Kansas to take on the Kansas Jayhawks and the UMKC Kangaroos on April 10 and 11, respectively, before returning home to the Goldring Tennis Center for a C-USA match against Memphis on Tuesday, April 14.
TULANE (9-10) DEFEATS NEW MEXICO STATE (6-8), 4-3
SINGLES
No. 1 – Anna Bartenstein (TLN) def. Sophia Marks (NMSU) – 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 – Laura Boguet (NMSU) def. Mariam Kurdadze (TLN) – 7-6 (7-4), 7-5
No. 3 – Stephanie Eusebe (NMSU) def. Lindsay Dvorak (TLN) – 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 – Aleksa Costa (NMSU) def. Caroline Gerber (TLN) – 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 – Marcela Fonseca (TLN) def. Natalia Salum (NMSU) – 7-5, 6-3
No. 6 – Elizabeth Hamlin (TLN) def. Paulina Zuniga (NMSU) – 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6)
DOUBLES
No. 1 – Bartenstein/Hamlin (TLN) def. Marks/Costa (NMSU) – 9-8 (7-3)
No. 2 – Kurdadze/Dvorak (TLN) def. Eusebe/Isabela Kulaif (NMSU) – 8-3
No. 3 – Boguet/Salum (NMSU) def. Fonseca/Jessica Lange (TLN) – 8-1
COACH SISK’S COMMENTS FOLLOWING SATURDAY’S 4-3 WIN OVER NEW MEXICO STATE
Overall thoughts on the win
“I was pleased overall with the way we were able to really settle in and fight today. New Mexico State is a solid team and really put up a battle. It was interesting playing in an environment with high altitude. The balls would literally fly so I thought we did a great job adjusting to those conditions since we have never encountered those as a team before.”
On winning the doubles point
“Our doubles point was critical today. We did a much better job of staying focused, playing to win and playing the big points well. Anna and Liz showed true heart today and really did a great job securing the 1-0 lead for us.”
On the clutch performance of Elizabeth Hamlin
“Liz did an amazing job today. She was down 5-2 in the first set and battled it out to win in a tiebreaker. Then, she was down once again 5-2 in the third to win in yet another tiebreaker. She did an outstanding job of remaining calm and focused, and really staying aggressive when she knew the match came down to her court. It is really taxing when you are playing a counter-puncher in these atmospheric conditions when you are not use to it, so she is to be commended for a job well done.”
On the performance of Mariam Kurdadze
“Mariam also did well today even though she came up on the losing side of the match. She has recently had the flu, so she is still healing and I think did a great job battling against a very tough French girl today. She will be back to herself in no time.”
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