The Texas State women’s tennis team completed a strenuous four-match week, splitting the contests to come away with a 10-3 overall record. 

The Bobcats defeated New Mexico State 6-1 Tuesday and defeated previously unbeaten in-conference Texas-Arlington 4-3 Saturday in a hard-fought battle. 

“Overall, the weekend itself was exceptional,” Coach Tory Plunkett said. “Four matches in one week is tough. We beat UTA for the first time in 21 years. We beat Rice once in the match and that’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve been here.”

The victory against UTA came from a third-set tiebreaker between the Bobcats’ Francesca Bernes and the Mavericks’ Christine Foote. In the No. 6 match, Bernes dropped the first set 6-3 and won both the second 6-2 and the third 7-0. 

The tennis team will try to extend its win streak into double-digit figures Thursday when it faces No. 29 Rice in Houston.

The Owls are coming off their first home loss of the season at the hands of Illinois 5-1. Just before the defeat, they beat the No. 30 South Florida Bulls.

“We are trying to catch them where they may not be prepared for us,” Coach Tory Plunkett said. “Hopefully we can use some of the fight we had (against NMS) to carry over to Rice. Hopefully doubles can start us off and get that first point going and surprise them a little bit.”    

Texas State had to claw its way to a 6-1 victory over the Aggies in the first of four matches this week, but Plunkett believes spring break could have been a key reason for the lack of execution.

Texas State tennis overcame a late deficit against future Western Athletic Conference opponent New Mexico State Tuesday with a 6-1 win at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.

The victory improves the team’s record to 9-1 and extends its win streak to nine matches. Coach Tory Plunkett said she was not as impressed with her team’s performance as she was with its effort, mental toughness and ability to fight.

“I don’t think we played well but we fought hard,” she said. “Mentally we were tough, and I think that’s what won us this match. It could have very easily gone the other way and ended up 4-3. We realize 6-1 is huge and all of them were close.”

Texas State started the day by sweeping the Aggies in doubles. Jessica Kahts, sophomore, and Melissa Hadad, junior, defeated the Aggies’ Natalia Salum and Marion Sylvain 9-8 after trailing 7-6. The other two Bobcat doubles teams won 8-5 and 9-7.

Thousands of students who call Aspen Heights or Copper Beech home are going to be welcoming hundreds of new neighbors during the coming months.

The two large, newly built housing complexes, which sit on and near Mill Street, are expanding their properties and almost doubling in size. Both communities are expected to have residents moving in by August.

Aspen Heights will add 508 new beds to their existing 608, housing more than 1,000 people.

Nikki Holliday, Aspen Heights sales and marketing manager, said “[their] construction team works very hard to meet all deadlines.”

Copper Beech will add 140 units to their “phase 2” project, which will consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom townhomes.

“Construction is ahead of schedule, and the first move-in date will be coming up in May for three buildings,” Veronica Ramirez, Copper Beech manager, said.

Texas State advanced past the first round of the Southland Conference tournament for the first time since 2003 with a Tuesday victory over Sam Houston State, 74-66.

The win was largely due to a second-half 34-15 offensive run after being down by 11.

 The Bearkats beat Texas State in the final game of the regular season last weekend, and Coach Zenarae Antoine said rebounding and interior defense were key factors.

“Our Achilles heel has always been defense,” Antoine said. “We are first in scoring but last in defense. I always knew that was an area that we needed to get better in order to advance in the postseason.”

Texas State had a season low nine turnovers and out-rebounded Sam Houston 49 to 47. The Bobcats beat the Bearkats in a number of statistical categories, including points-off turnovers, second-chance points, fast-break points and bench points.