Alcorn State’s women’s tennis team suffered a tough loss in Vicksburg on Tuesday, falling 4-0 to Arkansas State at Halls Ferry Park.

The Vicksburg courts were a familiar venue for the Lady Braves. They’ve been practicing there all season while their home courts in Lorman undergo renovations. Still, Alcorn had its two-match winning streak snapped.

The Lady Braves (5-12) were missing star Marlene Maier because of a shoulder injury. Maier is 8-0 in singles play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and 10-2 overall.

“I thought my team’s performance was below what they are capable of playing,” Alcorn coach Tony Dodgen said. “I think they were flat for the most part. We’ve had problems with this women’s team playing at a steady level.”

The Lady Braves had notched a 4-1 win over Alabama A&M in their last outing. Dodgen felt they needed to turn it around fast to prepare for postseason play. The SWAC Championships are April 13-15 in New Orleans.

“The girls have been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all year long,” Dodgen said. “If they don’t find some identity pretty soon, we’re not going to have a chance with the SWAC Championship this year. On the other side of the fence, if they get some determination and show some motivation, just get pumped up, they’ll have a shot at it.”

The doubles matches went poorly for Alcorn, as they lost all three by scores of 6-1. They didn’t fare much better in the singles matches, but sophomore Anastasia Vaganova and junior Bianca Birkenstock both put together solid days before Arkansas State clinched the victory, ending their matches prematurely.

Three of the six singles matches were halted once Arkansas State clinched the team win.
Vaganova lost her first set 6-4 to Berta Masdevall Masip, but she held a 3-2 lead in the second before the match ended.

Birkenstock lost her first set 6-1, and with Arkansas State’s Shelby King jumping out to a 4-0 lead it looked like the second set would be a blowout as well. However, Birkenstock flipped it around and won four straight games to tie it.

Birkenstock had all the momentum, with the match’s early end stopping what could have been an incredible comeback in the second set.

“I finally found my game plan, and I stuck to it and I came back,” Birkenstock said. “So I’m overall happy that I found a way.”

Birkenstock and Vaganova also lost their doubles match to Masip and Anita Detlava.
Dodgen said coaching the team could be strange sometimes.

“Some days you just don’t know what you’re going to get, and this was one of those days,” Dodgen said. “On a scale of 1-10, we probably played a seven today. It is what it is.”