BELTON, Texas –  In their second match of the season, the Southwestern University women's tennis team defeated I-35 rival the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) Crusaders 9-0 Friday evening in Belton, Texas.

Senior and freshman doubles team Mary Cardone and Emma Kesterson won 8-0 against UMHB's Alondra Torres Diaz and Sydney Andersen, earning their second win as doubles partners. Alli Ziehm and Cecile Wilde also swept with an 8-0 win over Macie Dehnisch and Laurel Turco.

Head coach Billy Porter comments, "Alli and Cece brought great energy at 3 doubles and really set the tone right off the bat."

Playing as the No. 1 in doubles, Esther Bowers and Nina Mitrofanova won 8-1 by defeating UMHB's Victoria Rendon and Amanda Almanza. 

For singles, Mitrofanova defeated Rendon for a second time(6-1, 6-1). Nina Elez also defeated Diaz, sweeping (6-0, 6-0) while playing at No. 2. "Nina did a great job of hitting through her strokes today which was an improvement from the last match and played a big part in her win today," Porter said.

Taylor Despriet, Sara Le and Chandler Vrba would all sweep their matches (6,0 6,0). "Chandler played poised, showed confidence and was in complete control from the first point all the way through the last one," Porter observed.  Meeshti Shethia picked up a victory (6-0, 6-1) over Sydney Andersen at the No. 6 spot.

With a quick turn around, the Southwestern Pirates get ready to play Angelo State University back home in Georgetown on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3:00 p.m.