By Laurean Love
Reporter
Baylor women’s tennis had a doubles team advance to the finals and single players advance into semifinals, but no Baylor player earned a title at the HEB Baylor Invitational this past weekend at the Hurd Tennis Center.
“I feel like we are making progress, and overall I feel like we are moving in the right direction,” head coach Joey Scrivano said in a press release. “I was happy with the way we came out and competed [Saturday]. I’m looking forward to having another day in those pressure situations against good competition. Every time on the court is another opportunity to improve.”
Freshman Nicole Kosakowski and sophomore transfer Jordaan Sanford advanced to a spot in the doubles final with an exciting semifinal win.
Although Kosakowski and Sanford were not able to claim the title, they won their third-straight match on the weekend with a 9-8 victory over Oklahoma State’s Kanyapat Narattana and Malika Rose to advance through the semifinals.
Kosakowski and Sanford have only played a handful of matches together.
During the final round, TCU’s Federica Denti and Kelsey Sundaram took the match 8-2 over the Baylor pair.
“We had a day that I felt like we took a step back and got away from what we have been working on in practice,” Scrivano said. “We don’t want to do that on the final day of a tournament. These tournaments give us a chance to apply what we have been doing in practice, and this was the first day of this event that we didn’t do that.”
Senior Diana Nakic went to the semifinals in singles but did not advance to the finals.
Nakic won the first set 7-5 against Texas A&M’s Sun Wen, but Wen took the next two sets 6-2, 7-5 for the victory in semifinals and a spot in the final match.
“Diana is getting better with each match, and that’s the most important thing as the tournament goes on,” Scrivano said after Saturday’s match.
Sanford joined Nakic in the quarterfinals Saturday with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Tarleton State’s Alicia Perez, but could not hold off Texas A&M’s second-seeded and 24th-ranked Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, 6-3, 6-2.
Sanchez-Quintanar was Sanford’s doubles partner at Maryland last year before both players transferred in the offseason.
“Even though Jordaan lost, we are really excited about where she is and where we think she can be,” Scrivano said. “Sometimes losing is one of the greatest tools of motivation.”
Freshman Megan Horter fell in straight sets to Lamar’s Carolina Salas, 6-1, 6-2, in consolation singles.
Baylor women’s tennis will be in Fort Worth at the ITA Texas Regional Friday through Tuesday.
