The Lady Panthers of Prairie View A&M University tennis team played an intense match against Lee College this past Thursday where the Lady Panthers suffered a tough loss with a final score of 4-3. Head Coach John Cochran feels as though his girls gave it their all, regardless of the ending score. “Definitely, they played really well, I was very impressed. It was a good match; hard fought.
The fourth through sixth singles and first through third doubles matches played by PVAMU were against the Rooty Rebels of Lee College. PVAMU won two singles matches and two doubles matches.
It appeared as though third singles Brittany Harrell was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Two singles matches had been won and two were losses. If Harrell were to win her match PVAMU would win the match as a whole. Victory sparked the eyes of Harrell’s teammates as she won the first set in her singles match 6-3. The second set was a loss to Harrell 4-6.
With the third set determining the winner Harrell was up 2-1 in the final set until she cramped up and retired her match, which gave LC the win over PVAMU.
“The loss was pretty tough for me because I felt like I let my team down with something that could’ve been prevented. I have definitely learned my lesson,” say’s Harrell who wished she could have fought through the pain and brought a win back home to her team regardless of the match not being a part of conference play.
Cochran said “my feelings were of disappointment. She fought and we thought she would finish but she couldn’t find the momentum and we lost. We probably would have won and that would have been a good dig out.”
PVAMU women’s tennis team usually plays LC every season. Cochran says that it is a good way to recruit junior college players and one was recruited to PVAMU several years prior.
The Lady Panthers next matches will be in Alexandria, La. next week for SWAC.