NORFOLK, Va. – Hilary Hanton had the last word Thursday morning at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
The freshman delivered the clinching fourth point as the Lady Wildcats had Delaware State for breakfast with a 4-0 opening round victory at Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the Old Dominion campus.
The Lady Wildcats (12-12) face South Carolina State, a 4-0 winner over Howard, in the semifinals Friday at 9 a.m.. Delaware State finishes 10-4.
It's been a rookie campaign that can only be described as character building for the Christchurch, New Zealand native – click here if you absolutely MUST see the statistical proof. So, after a doubles round that only lasted 20 minutes and quick singles wins from Alejandra Vidal and Matea Roki, it was almost like a match within the match to see if Hanton or fellow freshmen Karen Romero would deliver the fourth point.
Hanton, who was all Stefi Graf like in winning the first set 6-1, finally put away Sofia Rochi 6-1,6-4 at No.4 while Romero was one game from defeating Aayshi Chouhaw in the No. 3 match.
Hanton and Romero are also No. 3 doubles partners. They were serving for the match point and were that close to registering their first tournament victories, but Mina Matsuba/Riki and Vidal/Ancia Ifill just had to finish their 6-0 routs seconds before.
“I haven't been playing too well all season, but today it felt good to play the way I could,” Hanton said. “Karen and I never get the doubles points, so, yes, we trying hard to get that point.”
Getting the freshmen valuable tournament experience is one byproduct of opening round matches like this. Another is having to conserve energy for the next two days.
“We wanted to start with confidence and show we're ready to continue what we did last year,” said B-CU Head Coach Tim Pleasant. “This is exactly what we wanted.
“Delaware State's a scrappy team that likes to keep the ball in play. We had to come out and be aggressive otherwise we'd be here for three hours,” Pleasant said. “We played our style today.”
Roki reeled off nine straight games to make quick work of Milan Graves at No. 2 while Vidal continued her mastery of the MEAC tournament for a 6-1, 6-0 triumph at No. 6 over Liz Bessonova. The sophomore, last year's tournament most outstanding player, is now a combined 7-0 in tournament games.
“It's exciting to be here,” said Vidal. “I always feel like I need to play my best when I'm here.”
Matsuba, the three-time player of the year, was leading the second set over Shelpy Moffat at No. 1 singles while Ifill had won the first set of a spirited contest with fellow second team all-conference member Elvira Galieva at No. 3 singles when play was suspended.
NOTES: Vidal has now won nine consecutive singles matches; she and Ifill are now 12-5 as a doubles tandem while Matsuba/Roki is 14-3 .. B-CU now 11-1 this season when it won the doubles point, the only loss was at Florida A&M.
