By Laurean Love
Reporter
Women’s tennis freshman Megan Horter walked away with a win in the consolation round on Sunday at the Jack Kramer Club Invitational in Rolling Hills, Calif.
“I’m really proud of the way Megan [Horter] continues to come out and work on her game,” head coach Joey Scrivano said in a press release. “This was probably her toughest opponent of the season so far, and she battled all the way through to get the win. I’m really excited about the way her game is coming together.”
Horter pulled the upset against one of her toughest competitors of the season, USC’s Valeria Pulido.
Horter was able to gain a tiebreaker in the first set 7-6 (4), but fell 6-0 in the second set to force a super-tiebreaker. Horter then regained her momentum on the way to a 10-4 win.
The win gave Horter her second of the weekend after defeating LMU’s Elisaveta Pironkova 6-2, 1-6, 1-0(8) on Saturday.
Horter, had a tough day Friday, falling in a three-set, super-tiebreaker match to Loyola Marymount’s Miya Jin, while sophomore Jordaan Sanford came from behind to take a thrilling three-set victory.
Horter was able to take the opening set, 6-4, but Jin battled back to take the second set by the same 6-4 score. In the super-tiebreaker, Jin controlled the action to win 10-4.
After dropping the first set 3-6 to UCLA’s Skylar Morton, the fourth-seeded and 97th-ranked Sanford, won a 7-6 (5) tiebreak in the second. In the third-set, super-tiebreaker, Sanford out-dueled Morton 10-8 to advance to the quarterfinal.
“Jordaan did a great job of going out there and working on her game to improve,” Scrivano said on Friday. “I am really proud of her effort. Megan (Horter) lost a tough match today, but she’ll have another chance to go out there tomorrow and get a win.”
Sanford was able to win a pair of victories in singles this weekend. The tournament was played near her hometown of Diamond Bar, Calif.
Horter was the final Bear standing after teammate Jordaan Sanford lost to the top-seeded player in the semifinals Saturday, while Horter continued play in the consolation rounds.
“The semifinal loss was a tough one for Jordaan (Sanford),” Scrivano said on Saturday. “The most important thing is that her game is moving in the right direction. I’m proud of the way she and Megan (Horter) went out there and competed today.”
Sanford started the day with an impressive straight-set victory over Pepperdine’s Arianna Colffer, but faced the top-seeded and 25th-ranked Anna Bartenstein of Miami in the semifinals. Against Bartenstein, Sanford stayed closed, but she was able to hold a break advantage in each set to win 6-4, 6-4.
Senior Diana Nakic earned a berth in the upcoming tournament with her ITA Texas Regional victory one week ago.
“We are so honored to be a part of the first-ever Jack Kramer Club tournament,” Scrivano said. “We commend tournament director David Anderton and the Jack Kramer Club for putting on a first-class tournament, and we are happy they are involved in collegiate tennis.”
Baylor will be on the road again Thursday through Sunday in Flushing, N.Y., at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor.
