(Portions of this story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Texas Lutheran junior Sofia Vega is headed back to the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships after defending her Southwest Regional Women's Singles title with a three-set victory Sunday over Liza Southwick of Trinity University.
Vega won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 over Southwick at Trinity's Butch Newman Tennis Center. Vega entered the tournament as the top seed. Southwick, a sophomore from Nashville, Tenn., was the No. 2 seed.
"I thank my God that I made it this far again," said Vega, a two-time ITA All-American. "The tournament was a lot deeper this year because a lot of teams got a lot of new, great freshmen, but I was able to come through with my experience and hard work again."
"I'm also really proud of how my teammates did in this tournament, as I was not the only person from TLU playing on the last day. My goal is to bring a trophy back to TLU in a few weeks as the Small College Championships, so no breaks yet. I will keep working hard again starting this Tuesday at practice."
Vega won six singles matches total to claim the crown. She won two matches per day to best the field of 64 women's singles players in the "A" draw.
"As always, we are really proud of Sofia," said Michael Hunt, TLU's head coach for women and men's tennis. "This was a much deeper and more difficult tournament than last year's. Six quality wins in three days in this weather is just an amazing accomplishment. She is a point of pride for this program and for Texas Lutheran in general."
The Bulldogs had four women's players still competing on the final day of the tournament.
"We had a really good tournament overall too," said Hunt. "Each player won at least one match, and most won multiple matches. I'm really proud of the freshmen in general. We've never had four players still playing on Day 3 of this tournament."
"Alli (McLain) raised some eyebrows on Friday by taking the No. 3 seed to three sets. Peyton (Webster) won three matches and reached the 'B' flight consolation finals. Megan (Ingram) reached the 'B' main draw quarterfinals and lost in three sets to the eventual champion."
McLain, Webster, Ingram are all true freshmen. McLain is a product of Rockport, Texas and Rockport-Fulton High School. Webster is from Schertz, Texas and Samuel Clemens High School, and Ingram is from Live Oak, Texas and Judson High School.
"It's a good singles start to the season," said Hunt. "We have some doubles work to do, but this group will get there. They are smart and talented."
In other singles action involving SCAC teams, freshmen Abby Knedlik of Schreiner University won the "B" draw title with a 7-5, 2-6, 10-6 victory over Nicole Wilson of Southwestern University. In the win, she not only had to deal with her opponent but also had to battle heat exhaustion. It was her sixth singles match in the three days of competition. Knedlik is now a perfect 10-0 in her collegiate career in singles play.
