Ladyjacks Gear Up for Doubleheader
2/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 26, 2011
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The 71st-ranked Stephen F. Austin women's tennis team will seek to continue its impressive 6-0 start as they head to Corinth, Texas for a doubleheader against North Central Texas College and Collin College. The Ladyjacks will take on the Lions of North Central Texas College at 10 a.m., then head to Plano to compete against Collin College (3 p.m.).
After acquiring the first national ranking in school history, first-year head coach Patrick Sullivan is happy with the team's performance and hopes to continue the success into conference play.
"This doubleheader is a great final tune-up for us before our Southland schedule begins on Wednesday in Lake Charles," Sullivan said. "We're exactly where we wanted to be at this point in the season, but understand that we need to hit full stride and keep our level high throughout the remainder of the year. As proud as I am of the girls for becoming the first nationally ranked team in SFA history, one unfortunate byproduct of that ranking is that the days of sneaking up on teams are long gone."
The Ladyjacks are coming off a 6-0 victory over Prairie View A&M Thursday, which marked the school's first match as a nationally ranked team.
Sullivan acknowledges that the ranking is a huge accomplishment but hasn't forgotten about the attention that comes with being nationally ranked. It marked the team's third shutout victory of the season. SFA has only surrendered a total of four points in its six matches.
"Everyone in the conference is hoping to be the first ones to knock us off and we'll get everyone's best shot from here on out," said Sullivan. "That additional challenge is part of having a winning program, and we're all looking forward to it."
SFA will return from the doubleheader to take on UT-Tyler Saturday, March 5. The match is slated to begin at 5 p.m. from the Schlief Tennis Complex.
-SFA-
