Aristegui Shines as TCU falls to No. 18 UCF

Thursday, February 25

Fort Worth, Texas

12 PM

TCU

UCF

Aristegui Shines as TCU falls to No. 18 UCF

2/25/2021 4:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Mercedes Aristegui recorded her first ranked singles win of the year in the loss.

FORT WORTH – TCU women's tennis (5-3) came up short against No. 18 UCF by a final score of 5-1 Thursday afternoon at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth. Mercedes Aristegui delivered the best win of her career, taking down No. 42 Stolmar in straight sets (6-4, 6-0) to remain undefeated in dual singles play in the loss.

"We had another player go down with injury yesterday, so we knew it was going to even be more of a battle than we originally planned," head coach Lee Taylor Walker said. "But I'm really proud of the mindset our players had today. They had a fight and toughness and togetherness to them that put us in a positive position in singles to perhaps take the match. But as we've stated before, our main evaluation of our matches is the mental battles we are overcoming with ourselves each time we compete, and today I saw those little mental victories on nearly every court. Mercedes is obviously the MVP of the day. It started in doubles for her as her and Isa have continued to show themselves as one of the best teams in the country, having to be stopped up 4-3 serving against the No. 6 team in country. And then in singles, Merche has really shifted from just being a fighter on court, to now taking more initiative and dictating points. She's not getting flustered when her opponents make good shots. She's able to distinguish between her poor play and her opponent good play at a more mature level than before. This is going to pay off for her development if she can maintain this mental framework. We are continuing to keep good team chemistry and make small gains match by match. We are enjoying competing and grateful to have these opportunities."

UCF took the doubles point, despite Aristegui and Isabel Pascual Montalvo putting up a strong fight at No. 1. The duo had won three straight games to take a 4-3 lead over the No. 6-ranked pairing in the country before the Knights clinched the doubles point on courts two and three.

The Horned Frogs won one of five completed singles matches today. TCU is now 25-12 in dual singles matches this season.

SINGLES QUICK HITS

TCU recorded its lone singles victory from Aristegui at No. 2.
It was the highest ranked dual singles win of Aristegui's career and her first ranked win of the season.
Aristegui is now 2-2 against ranked opponents in dual matches as a Horned Frog.
She is now 7-0 in dual singles play this season, 8-1 overall in 2021.
Her seven-match win streak is the longest streak of her collegiate career.
This was her first win of the season at No. 2 singles after collecting five wins at No. 3 and one at No. 4 singles.
She won her second set, 6-0, marking her third bagel set of the season. She leads the team in that category.
She has not dropped a set this dual season (15-0), again, the longest such streak of her career.
Of those 15 sets, she has won
Aristegui is outscoring her opponents by a combined game-score of 96-33 (74.4 percent).
The Horned Frogs are now 25-12 in singles matches this dual season.

Doubles Results
1. 1. Isabel Pascual Montalvo/Mercedes Aristegui (TCU) vs. #6 Rebeka Stolmar/Marie Mattel (UCF) 4-3, unfinished
2. #60 Ksenia Kuznetsova/Valeriya Zeleva (UCF) def. Stevie Kennedy/Margaret Polk (TCU) 6-0
3. Evgeniya Levashova/Nadja Bay Christians (UCF) def. Addy Guevara/Marie Norris (TCU) 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3

Singles Results
1. #67 Valeriya Zeleva (UCF) def. #68 Marie Norris (TCU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3)
2. Mercedes Aristegui (TCU) def. #42 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) 6-4, 6-0
3. #95 Ksenia Kuznetsova (UCF) def. Stevie Kennedy (TCU) 6-3, 6-0
4. Isabel Pascual Montalvo (TCU) vs. Nadja Bay Christians (UCF) 6-7, 1-2, unfinished
5. #72 Marie Mattel (UCF) def. Addy Guevara (TCU) 6-2, 6-3
6. #72 Jaleesa Leslie (UCF) def. Margaret Polk (TCU) 6-1, 7-5
Order of finish – 2, 5, 6, 3, 1

Up Next
TCU travels to Lubbock to begin Big 12 Conference play on Saturday, Feb. 27. First serve is set for noon.

For more information on TCU women's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUWomensTennis on twitter and Facebook, @tcuwomenstennis on Instagram