After a tough string of road games and a dropped home opener, the Troy University women’s tennis team brought home its first win on Sunday against the visiting Florida A&M Rattlers.

The Trojans managed to not only bring in a win at home, but showed their power by shutting out the Rattlers 7-0.

“It was good to get a win,” Trojans head coach Eric Hayes said. “It was a tough competition and getting a shutout was good for our girl’s and their confidence and it was good being back at home. We spent a lot of time on the road playing good teams and it was good to see it pay off.”

Doubles play saw strong performances from all over the Trojan lineup, with Olfa Dhaoui and Rosaura Ramirez Vega kicking things off with an 8-1win over the rattler duo of Alexis Brown and Elysia Ortiz.

The Trojans were just as dominant in singles play, sweeping all three matches to clinch the match.

With a win under their belt the Trojans will soon be going back on the road for the Clemson Winter Indoor Classic.

The Trojans will be locking horns with some tough competition, including Division II national champions Armstrong Atlantic and the Clemson Tigers.

Play for the tournament will include a large number of matches, with each team playing both a singles match and doubles match against each other.

“We’ve played tournaments like these the last couple of years,” Hayes said. “It’s a good way to get a lot of matches in early. I want to see us do well and this early in the season the more matches the better it’s a good way to get prepared.”

The tournament will be the last bit of practice the Trojans may get however, and after getting back from Clemson they will be staring down four straight home games running all the way until March 6.

The home series will include meeting with in-state rivals Alabama State and Jacksonville, as well as meetings with Kennesaw State and Austin Peay State.

But coach Hayes sees that his team has already faced a tough challenge and come through, and believes his teams attitude is in the right place.

“I think their attitude is good,” Hayes said. “They knew their first matches would be tough but we got through with no injury and we’re thankful for that. We’re playing with six girls instead of our usual eight and we’ve got no margin for error, but we’ve kept healthy and are ready to move on into the season.”

The Trojans will be back at home against Kennesaw on Feb. 12, with a start time yet to be determined.