Men's Tennis | 4/20/2019 8:22:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 |
Box Score 3 Photo by Micah Gilbert
McPherson Kan. – The McPherson College men's and women's tennis teams wrapped up the regular season portion of their schedule this past week. The Bulldogs hosted the Bethel College Threshers on Wednesday with the men winning 9-0 and the women picking up a 6-3 victory. On Thursday, the Bulldog men traveled down to Bartlesville, Oklahoma and made quick work of the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles 9-0. OKWU doesn't have women's team this year, so the Bulldog ladies got the day off.
In Wednesday's match against the Threshers, the Bulldog women forfeited the no. 3 doubles position, as they have done all season, but won the other two doubles matches. Both matches were won by the Bulldogs 8-2 with
Brittany Zipf (Jr. Rockhampton, Australila) and Eric Paradise (Fr. Bakersfield, Calif.) winning at no. 1, and
Besa Bwalya (Jr. Hoisington, Kan.) and
Zoe Bouwmeester (Sr. Zutphen, Netherlands) at no. 2.
In singles, the Bulldogs won four of the five matches played, picking points on the 1, 2, 3, and 4 lines. Zipf won her match easily at no. 1, 6-0, 6-1. Paradise had to work a little harder at no. 2, but still won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. At no. 3, Bwalya won 6-0, 6-2, and at no. 4 Bouwmeester picked up the final point, winning 6-2, 6-1.
On the men's side, the Bulldogs started off by sweeping the doubles with
Jacob Turley (So. Milton Keynes, England) and Julien Bodien (So. Cartagena, Spain) winning 8-1 at no. 1,
Nicolas Wahl (Jr. Koenigstein, Germany) and
Rick Sakamoto (Fr. Melbourne, Australia) taking the no. 2 line 8-2, and Juan Jimenez (Sr. Pereira, Colombia) and
Jakob Komel (Fr. Ljubljana, Slovenia) also winning 8-2 at no. 3.
With a comfortable lead heading into the singles portion of the dual. Coach Bulnes elected to rest Jimenez at no. 2, bumping everyone below him in the lineup up a spot. Turley remained at no. 1, where he beat McPherson native and three time state doubles champion, Nolan Schrader, 6-2, 6-1. Bodin moved up the no. 2 line where he also won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. At no. 3, Wahl's opponent put up a good fight, but he was still able to win in straights, 6-2, 6-3.
Sakamoto played at no. 4, and he surrendered only three games in two sets, winning 6-1, 6-2. On the no. 5 line, Komel also had to work a little harder, but still came out on top 6-2, 6-3. The closest match of the day was a no. 6 where
Kentaro Oya (Fr. Saitama-shi, Japan) needed two tie breakers to complete the sweep for the Bulldogs. He won the first set tiebreaker 7-5, then finished off the second set breaker 8-6.
Thursday's match against the OKWU Eagles, was a blood bath. The Bulldogs won 7-2, but the only two points for the Eagles came at no. 5 and 6 singles as forfeits. Otherwise, the Bulldogs lost a total of just seven games over 11 sets played. Below are the scores from the seven matches played.
Doubles:
No. 1 Turley and Bodin 8-1
No. 2 Wahl and Sakamoto 8-0
No. 3 Jimenez and Komel 8-0
Singles:
No.1 Turley 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 Jimenez 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 Bodin 6-0, 6-4
No. 4 Wahl 6-1, 6-1
With the wins, the Bulldog men finished the regular season at 8-6 overall, and 7-1 in the KCAC. They are the no. 2 seed in the KCAC tournament next weekend, and will play the winner of the Bethany College and Kansas Wesleyan University quarterfinal match next Friday in Topeka, Kan. The women will also be the no. 2 seed in the KCAC tournament, finishing their regular season with an identical record as the men. They will get the winner of Ottawa University and Sterling College next Friday.
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