Men's Tennis | 3/28/2019 10:10:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Photo by Micah Gilbert
It was a tough day on the court for the McPherson College men's and women's tennis teams. The Bulldogs hosted the Southwestern College Moundbuilders in their first KCAC match of the season.
The Bulldog women entered Thursday's match with the Builders at 1-4 in the non-conference portion of their season. Their lone win came on their spring break trip last week to Georgia when they defeated Point University 5-3 on the last day of the trip.
With only five players on the roster this spring, the Bulldogs start every dual match in the hole 0-2, forfeiting the #3 doubles and #6 singles lines. The Bulldogs split the other two doubles matches, with
Brittany Zipf (Jr. Rockhampton, Queensland, Aus.) and
Erica Paradise (Fr. Bakersfield, Calif.) winning easily at #1, 8-1, but the #2 team of
Besa Bwalya (Jr. Hoisington, Kan.) and
Zoe Bouwmeester (Sr. Zutphen, Netherlands) falling to the Builders 8-5.
In the singles portion of the dual, the Bulldogs picked up two more point, winning at #1 and #4. Zipf picked up her second win of the day, winning her match at #1, 6-4-0. At #4, Bouwmeester picked up the Bulldogs' final point of the day winning her match 7-5, 6-4. The Builders picked up singles wins at #2, #3, and #5 to secure the dual 6-3.
With the loss, the Bulldogs are now 1-5 overall, and 0-1 in the KCAC. They will try to rebound against the Friends University Falcons at home on Sunday.
The Bulldog men entered Thursday's KCAC opener, still looking for their first win of the season. The Bulldogs had a brutal non-conference schedule, playing their first four matches against the 1
st, 4
th, 6
th, and 13
th ranked teams in the NAIA. The Bulldogs, picked to win the KCAC again this year, have dominated the Moundbuilders in recent seasons. This day however belonged to the underdogs.
The Bulldogs got off to a slow start in doubles, dropping two of the three matches. The #1 team of
Jacob Turley (So. Milton Keynes, England) and
Julien Bodin (So. Cartagena, Spain) got the Bulldogs on the board, winning easily 8-0. In the other doubles matches, the Bulldogs lost two close decisions.
Nicolas Wahl (So. Koenigstein, Germany) and
Rick Sakamoto (Fr. Melbourne, Australia) lost 8-6 at #2, while the #3 team of
Kurt Burton (Sr. Bromley, England) and Juan Jimenez (Sr. Pereira, Colombia) were defeated 9-8, losing in a tiebreaker.
The singles portion of the dual was a dog fight. The two teams split the six matches, with the Bulldogs winning at on the 2, 4, and 5 lines. Turley picked up his second win of the day, dominating his match 6-2, 6-2. At #4, Wahl dropped the first set, but came back and won the next two sets to pick up his first point of the match. The fourth and final point for the Bulldogs came from Sakamoto at #5, who won in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
After 8 singles matches played, the Bulldogs and Builders were tied 4-4. The dual came down to the #2 line which featured Bodin for the Bulldogs. He won the first set, and had four match points in the second set tiebreaker, but ultimately lost the second set 14-12 in the breaker. In the third and deciding set, both players broke serve once, but couldn't take advanatage, and the match would be decided by another tiebreaker. In the final breaker, Bodin led 4-2 at the first changeover, but then dropped five straight points to fall 7-4.
With the loss, the Bulldogs are now 0-5 overall on the season, and 0-1 in the KCAC. They will get a chance to pick up their first win of the season on Sunday when they host the Friends University at 10:00 am at the McPherson High School Courts.
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