Weekend #2 for Coach Brian Waddell and his Lady Lion's went well and got off to an excellent start. New Mexico Military Institute would be first up and come in ranked #15 nationally and a very strong regional competitor each and every year! The first beautiful day of the year with sunny skies and 78 degrees. Doubles always played first and the lady lion's dual of Mariangela Mendoza / Yashleen Kheterpal would kick things off by winning in default over NMMI at line 3 respectfully. Next off would be line 2 dual of Lisa Guitton / Yana Goranova with a winning score of 8-1. Finally at line 1 the team if Katarina Matusikova / Birthe Nulens lost to nationally ranked #19 doubles team of Row/ Teally by the score of 3-8.
Singles play would finish in this order; Line 6 was again a default win by Yashleen Kheterpal and the lady lions. Next off was line 5 and Laura Rincon-Arias of the lady lions with a score of 6-0;6-0. Line 4 would follow as Carolina Fabbri (of Brazil) would win 6-1;6-1 respectfully. Lisa Guitton (of France) would finish next with a win and score of 6-0;6-2. This would make the team score at 6-1 (with 5 lines equaling a team victory). The last two lines (1 and 2) would have two hour matches with NMMI coming out on top. Line 1 Yana Goranova (of Bulgaria) would lose her match 3-6;4-6 in a very competitive match from start to finish! Lastly, line 2 would finish ( Katerina Matusikova ) with another hard fought match from start to finish and a lost by the score of 4-6;4-6. The final two matches could of gone either way and with a little more practice and drills we are looking for a different outcome "said Coach Waddell". Final score of 6-3 would continue the Lady Lion's winning streak to 2 matches with 2 more matches the following day on Saturday.
Saturday's match would be 100% different with the weather than Friday's. Match began at 10am with a temperature of 28 degrees (50 degrees different then we left on Friday) said "coach Waddell". The good thing would be the same outcome as on Friday. The Lady Lion's would face off with Division II school of Ouachita Baptist University from Arkansas. Again doubles would start the day off with line 3 team of Laura Rincon-Arias / Carolina Fabbri finishing quickly with an excellent played match and a score of 8-1. Off next would be the duo of Yana Goranova / Lisa Guitton at line 2 with the same winning score of 8-1. Another well played and dominance match for the lion's from start to finish. Line 1 team of Matusikova / Nulens would come away with a loss by the score of 4-8 but a much closer match than the score showed.
Singles play went this way; Yana Goranova at line 2 suffered a terrible knee injury in only the second game of the first set. She was not able to continue and to be administered by a doctor and trainer. All the matches would stop while Yana would be helped off the court for about 15 minutes. This made the team score at 2-2. The Lady Lion's would regroup and win at line 4 (Lisa Guitton) 6-1;6-1 respectfully. Off next would be Katerina Matusikova at line 3 singles and another win by the score of 6-2;6-3. Birthe Nulens would be finished next and losing by the score of 5-7;2-6. Another hard fought match for Birthe even though she lost she's getting better physically and mentally each time out. This would make the team score at the moment 4-3 lions with 2 more matches to finish. The next two lines 5 and 6 would win going away for the lions with score of 6-1;6-0 at line 5 (Laura Rincon-Arias) and 6-1;6-2 at line 6 by Carolina Fabbri. Final team score of 6-3 by the Lady Lion's and a three match win streak, 3-0 on the season.
The afternoon match would warm up to a high of 38 degrees and the lady lion's would have one hour off for lunch before starting their final match of the weekend against The University of the Southwest (from New Mexico). The University of the Southwest had lost two sisters from playing who were in a minor car accident back in New Mexico the week earlier. Doubles would get a default at line three and defaults at line 5 and 6 singles. The lady lion's would win both the other two doubles matches by the score of 8-0 at line 1 ( Matusikova/Guitton) and 8-2 at line 2 ( Arias / Fabbri) by the score of 8-2.
Singles would continue the same as the lady lions won at Line 4 ( Mariangela Mendoza ) 6-0;6-0. Line 3 would be ( Yashleen Kheterpal) by a 6-1;6-0 score. Line 2 (Lisa Guitton) won 6-0;6-0 in a very quick match and finally at line 1 (Matusikova) won 6-1;6-1. Excellent win by the Lady Lion's by the score 9-0 and the winning streak would grow to now 4 in a row and 4-0 on the young season.