Senior Cassie Alcala clinched match point in an intense three-set victory to help the Toledo women’s tennis team capture the program’s first Mid-American Conference Championship Tournament title. The Rockets defeated Miami 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed home crowd at the UT Varsity Tennis Courts.
In a perfect ending to her final home match at UT, Alcala’s clincher was career win No. 100 for the three-time MAC Player of the Year, who also leads the program in career singles and 178 combined wins.
The Rockets defeated Miami 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed home crowd at the UT Varsity Tennis Courts and claimed their first MAC championship and first berth into NCAA Tournament.
This is the program’s first tournament title after battling in the MAC Championship finals match in each of the previous two seasons, finishing runner-up in 2022 and 2023. With the win, the Rockets (18-5, 9-1 MAC) earn an automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Championship Tournament next week, also a first for the program and two-time MAC Coach of the Year Tracy Mauntler. Toledo will learn its first-round opponent when the NCAA Selection Show airs on Monday, April 29.
“It’s really overwhelming,” said Mauntler, in her 21st season as Toledo’s head coach. “This has been anything but easy. This journey has been full of ups and downs, and lots of heartbreak. I think that’s why we’re here where we are right now. This senior class especially has been through so much heartache. This is our third MAC Championship, and we lost the last two. So, the third time’s the charm, I guess. There’s something to be said about being in these pressure moments, failing, and then learning from it.”
Toledo took control of the match from the very start with a 1-0 match lead after securing the doubles point, thanks to victories from senior Sloane Teske and sophomore Sanjana Tallamraju at the No. 2 court, and senior Shalini Tallamraju and sophomore Audrey Moutama at the No. 3 court.
Teske lost her opening set to Nishitha Saravanan 7-5, but bounced back with a demanding 6-0 win in the second set, and won the court with a 6-1 third set. Almost in sync with Teske, Moutama got the job done in a 6-2, 7-6(4) win at the No. 2 court to put the Rockets at match point. Lauren Joyce gave Miami some light by taking the bottom court in three sets against senior Julia Kuszynski, making it 3-1 overall.
Alcala took the opening set 6-4, fell to Catherine Denysiewicz-Slowek 7-5 in the second set, and won on duce point 6-4 to end the match to set off the eruption of celebration and tears from her teammates and the crowd.
Teske and Alcala were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team, and Alcala was named MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player for the first time.
“Cassie is an incredible leader,” said Mauntler. “Her actions do her talking. I know she’s loud on the court but off the court she is quiet, so her actions do her leading. There may never be another Cassie but in some ways that’s OK. She has set the standards very high.”
Mauntler also praised the leadership of her senior class: Alcala, Kuszynski, Teske and Shalini Tallamraju.
“I can’t say enough about this senior class,” Mauntler said. “They put Toledo tennis on the map. They’ve set the standard at an all-time high. They have helped me so much in terms of setting the culture of what it means to be a Rocket. It’s been such a long journey and they’ve just worked through things. Some of them have memories of losing in the finals two years ago and then again last year. They just kept coming back each year and kept putting more into their games and more into each other. I couldn’t be prouder to be their coach. They’re an amazing group of young women.”
Mauntler added that clinching the championship at home was the perfect way for the Rockets to win their first MAC Tournament title.
“It has been hard on the road the last two years in Muncie, losing to the host team,” Mauntler said. “The crowd here today was so great, just unreal. It’s really a dream.”
