The Morning Stake: Women’s Tennis Advances to Sweet 16; Women’s Golf Advances to NCAA Championships

The title for this post says it all. Huge congrats to both programs! Details after the the jump.

Women’s Tennis Advances to Sweet 16. For the first time in program history, the women’s tennis program and Todd Petty have advanced to the Sweet 16 by beating #22 LSU, 4-2 yesterday afternoon! It is also the first time in program history that the program won 21 matches and is 21-6 on the year. Here’s head coach Todd Petty:

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it a lot with you guys (how young we are),” said Texas Tech head coach Todd Petty. “We aren’t in a position where we have to count points. Today it was number six picking us up, it was Lynn Kiro over here picking us up. We are so deep that it can be a different person every day that’s stepping up to get the win.”

“It was one of those things where I think they were ready for a ripping when I walked in, and I said, `Look I’m not going to rip you. It’s the last match at home.’ We talk a lot about playing fearless and not playing scared and emotional, and we didn’t do that in the doubles,” added Petty. “I said, `At some point we are going to learn to get over that hump whether it’s this year, next year, or down the road.’ I said, `But this is a great opportunity to try to get over it,’ and they did. They responded. There wasn’t a scared moment in that singles down the line. It’s very special for them to learn that lesson here at the biggest stage.”

The Sweet 16 begins Friday in Waco.

Oh yeah, this program also only has one senior.

Women’s Golf Advances to NCAA Championship. Huge win for the women’s golf program and head coach JoJo Robertson and it came down to the final hole as Texas Tech finished 2-under par to tie for 5th with Washington to advance to the NCAA Championship. Check out how it came down to the final hole:

Texas Tech was trailing Texas by just one shot with Hill and Gabby Barker still on the final hole. Hill looked over her 15-footer twice, reading the break then putt it left of the hole and turned almost with disbelief as the ball dropped in, putting Tech at 2-under par and in a tie for sixth.

Then Barker chipped her third shot to within four feet of the hole and sunk it for par to guarantee Tech a 2-under finish for the tournament with Texas still out on the course on the final five holes.

The Longhorns would bogey twice on 18 as Tech finished its final three holes 2-under par, completing its comeback after trailing Texas by as many as five shots on the back nine Saturday.

The ladies will now head to Bradenton, Florida for the NCAA Championship at the Concession Course May 22nd through May 27th.

Men’s Tennis Falls to UCLA. The men fell to UCLA, 4-0, in the second round of their regional in Los Angeles, ending their season. This group finished 19-9 on the yeaer and head coach Tim Siegel is proud of his group:

“I am very proud of what we accomplished this year,” said Siegel. “We finished ranked in the Top 20 nationally, defeated the No. 1 team in the nation, recorded some big road wins and had great crowds at home. We will be back next year better than ever.”