ARLINGTON, Texas– The UT Arlington women's tennis team (16-3, 7-1 WAC) remain first in the WAC standings after sweeping Sam Houston State 7-0 at the UTA Tennis Center on Friday. 
 
The Mavericks got off to a strong start by winning each doubles court for the early lead. They are 7-1 in conference doubles play this season, dropping only one point to Seattle U.
 
Liz Chileno and Sarina Reinertsen were the first to finish on Court 2, dropping only one game to Vianne Schwab and Linn Svaerd to move to 12-3 on the season. The pair earned an early lead going up 4-0 with strong baseline rallies from Reinertsen. They allowed the Bearkats one more game to make the score 5-1, then Reinertsen finished off the match with a forced error on a volley to win the match 6-1.
 
Court 3 was the next match off, with Bruna Casasampere and Francisca Vergara clinching the advantage over Aaliyah Hohmann and Anastasia Khokhlova. The Bearkats earned a 2-0 lead early in the match with the Mavs fighting to even the score. An ace from Casasampere brought the score to 2-2 and forced the tie.
 
The match stayed close until 5-5, when Casasampere hit a winner to take the lead. She finished off the match with an ace, securing the doubles victory for the Mavs 7-5 and moving the pair to 9-5 on the season.
 
In a tough battle on Court 1, Ana Paula Jimenez and Tara Gorinsek fought to complete the doubles sweep in a tiebreaker over Paula Cerda and Sahithi Vutukuru. With aggressive net play, the Mavs were able to go up 2-1, but the Bearkats fought to keep the score even and eventually go up 6-5. Jimenez forced an error after a baseline rally in order to even the score and force a tiebreaker at 6-6.
 
Jimenez and Gorinsek followed with a dominant tiebreaker, allowing Cerda and Vutukuru only two points to take the match. The Mavericks went up 5-1 early on, forcing errors to stay up. With the Bearkats earning one more point, Gorinsek hit a lob and caused an error to win the match 7-6 (2).
 
Singles play followed in a similar fashion, with the Mavericks taking each court to finish the sweep.
 
Reinertsen earned the first singles win for the Mavs, moving to 13-3 on Court 3. She got off to a strong start over Vutukuru in the first set, rallying from the baseline to gain the 3-0 lead. She allowed one game before finishing off the set 6-1.
 
The second set proceeded in a similar manner, with Reinertsen securing an early 2-0 lead with a strong backhand winner. She stayed ahead for the remainder of the set, dropping only one game before winning a long rally for the match, winning 6-1.
 
Vergara finished soon after her fifteenth win of the season on Court 6 over Svaerd in straight sets. She did not drop a game in the first set after earning an early 3-0 lead, finishing off the set 6-0.

She carried that momentum into the second set, going up 4-1 early on. Svaerd earned two more games before Vergara forced an error at 5-3 to take the set and match 6-3. This is her eighth consecutive win in straight sets.
 
Court 4 was next off, with Casasampere taking her tenth win of the season. The score stayed even with Schwab until 2-2, when Casasampere took the lead. After winning the next game to go up 4-2, she was able to finish off the set 6-2.
 
The second set ended in a similar manner, with Casasampere dropping only two games to clinch the match for the Mavericks. She earned another 5-2 lead before finishing off the match 6-2 to give the Mavericks their fourth point.
 
Jimenez finished soon after with another dominant performance to move to 15-1 on the season on Court 5. She got off to a strong start against Hohmann with a 3-0 lead in the first set. She dropped two games before taking the set 6-2.
 
Jimenez took the next set, dropping only one game to extend her winning streak to nine consecutive matches. With another 3-0 lead, Hohmann took one game before Jimenez finished the set 6-1.
 
Court 2 came down to the deciding set tiebreaker after Gorinsek came back to even the score with Khokhlova. Khokhlova started the first set with a 2-0 lead, forcing Gorinsek to fight back and even the score. After bringing the score to 3-2, Gorinsek could not close out the set, dropping it 6-4.
 
Gorinsek retaliated in the second and allowed Khokhlova two games before evening the score. She earned a 4-1 lead, forcing errors from the baseline. The set ended 6-2 with a winner from Gorinsek, forcing the tiebreaker for the third set.
 
The tiebreaker came down to two points, with Gorinsek finishing off the tightly contested match for the Mavericks. After three unforced errors early on from Khokhlova, Gorinsek continued to build on the momentum and went up 7-2. Khokhlova fought back to even the score after strong baseline points and brought the score to 7-7. A controversial line call caused Gorinsek to go down 8-7, but she responded by hitting a winner and forcing an error to go up 10-9. The score stayed even, but Gorinsek took the final two points with forced errors to take the 13-11 win.
 
The final match came down to Chileno on Court 1 in a close match with Cerda. The first set stayed close, with Chileno carrying a one game advantage after hitting an ace to go up 3-2. At 6-5, Chileno was able to close out the set with an overhead, securing the 7-5 win.
 
Cerda fought back to earn an early lead in the second set, going up 3-0 to start. Chileno retaliated to even the score, forcing an error to tie at 3-3. She then won three consecutive games to finish off the match 6-3 and bring her record to 11-6.
 
The Mavericks will be back in action for their final regular season match against Stephen F. Austin on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the UTA Tennis Center.
 
UTA 7, SHSU 0
Singles

1. Liz Chileno (UTA) def. Paula Cerda (SHSU) 7-5, 6-3
2. Tara Gorinsek (UTA) def. Anastasia Khokhlova (SHSU) 4-6, 6-2, 13-11
3. Sarina Reinertsen (UTA) def. Sahithi Vutukuru (SHSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Bruna Casasampere (UTA) def. Vianne Schwab (SHSU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Ana Paula Jimenez (UTA) def. Aaliyah Hohmann (SHSU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Francisca Vergara (UTA) def. Linn Svaerd (SHSU) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles

1. Tara Gorinsek/Ana Paula Jimenez (UTA) def. Paula Cerda/Sahithi Vutukuru (SHSU) 7-6 (2)
2. Liz Chileno/Sarina Reinertsen (UTA) def. Vianne Schwab/Linn Svaerd (SHSU) 6-1
3. Francisca Vergara/Bruna Casasampere (UTA) def. Aaliyah Hohmann/Anastasia Khokhlova (SHSU) 7-5 

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