SEGUIN, Texas – Freshman Zayra Gomez's win at the No. 6 singles spot broke a 4-4 deadlock and secure the 5-4 road win for the McMurry University women's tennis team at Texas Lutheran University. The win by the War Hawks (3-3) over the Bulldogs (3-4) also snapped McM's three-match skid.
 
In doubles play to open the day, TLU won two of the three bouts. McMurry's lone win came at the No. 2 position, where the tandem of Chloe Patterson and Madison Hathorn won an 8-4 decision over Brooke Taylor and Madison Dyer of Texas Lutheran.
 
The host Bulldogs would then win the first two singles matches off the courts – at No. 4 and No. 1 – to hold a commanding 4-1 lead in the match score. But that's when the War Hawks shifted things into high gear.
 
At No. 5 singles, Hathorn dismantled TLU's Macy Elliott, 6-0, 6-0 to slice into the host's advantage. No. 3 singles was the next match to be completed, where freshman Samantha Ritz split the first two sets – winning set 1 by a 6-2 score and losing set 2, 6-3. In the deciding third set, Ritz topped the Bulldogs' Taylor, 6-4, and draw the War Hawks to within a single point in the team total, 4-3.
 
Another freshman, Briana Perez, then won what may have been the most grueling match of the afternoon at No. 2 singles. Perez dropped set one by a 7-5 count, but then rallied back to win set two over TLU's Alli McLain by an identical 7-5 score. She then blitzed McLain in set three, 6-0, and tied up the team score at 4-4.
 
That left just Gomez, at sixth singles, still on the courts and with the team score hanging in the balance. Facing the Bulldogs' Megan Ingram, Gomez improved her personal record to a team-best 4-2 on the year, thanks to her 6-2, 7-5 victory.