Men's Tennis | 2/27/2021 10:15:00 PM
Photo by Natalia Ahrens
McPherson, Kan.  – The McPherson College men's and women's tennis teams picked up a split decision in their home opener on Saturday against the Barton County Community College Cougars. The Bulldog women were bested 7-0, but the MC men came away with an impressive 5-2 victory against a Cougar team that is currently ranked 8th in the NJCAA rankings.
The Bulldog women were without Erica Paradise, who normally plays #1 Doubles and is at the top of the singles ladder as well. With her out, Coach Allen had to rearrange his lineup. He elected to partner Polina Khoroshevskaya with Vanessa Mundo on the #1 line. They played a competitive match, but were defeated 6-4. At #2, Grace Maxey and Kayla Ortiz were upended 6-2, and at #3 sisters, Kendra and Tori Maples dropped their set 6-1.
Down 1-0 after doubles, the Bulldogs were swept in the singles matches, giving the Cougars the 7-0 victory. Coach Allen commented on the match saying, ""We played against a top 10 junior college team, and had some competitive matches. I know we didn't get the results we wanted, but this team is going in the right direction." He pointed out some individual play saying, "Kayla played some of her best singles I have seen since I arrived at Mac, and Vanessa and Polina were right there with a doubles team that is highly ranked. I know that these two girls can compete with anyone in the country"
On the men's side, all three doubles matches were tight, but the Cougars were able to win two of the three to secure the doubles point. The lone win came on the #1 line from Jacob Turley and Martin Millos, who won their match 6-3. The #2 team of Julien Bodin and Michael Beltran and the #3 team of Jakob Komel and Trey Murphy both lost their matches 6-4.
Trailing 1-0, the Bulldogs got things going in the singles portion of the dual. They picked up five points winning at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Martin Millos picked up the first singles in of the day, winning his match at #3, 6-2, 6-3. The next point came at #2 from freshman Michael Beltran. He won 6-1, 6-4 to win his second match of the season. Julien Bodin won a grueling match, 7-6, 6-3 at #1 to put the Bulldogs up 3-1 in the dual.
The Cougars picked up their first singles win at #5 when Trey Murphy lost a tough match 6-4, 6-3. With the Bulldogs leading 3-2, Jacob Turley clenched the match for team at #4, winning easily 6-1, 6-0. With the match secured, Jakob Komel put the icing on the cake by winning at #6, 6-0, 7-6.
Coach Allen summed up the day saying, "We defeated the #8 JUCO team in the country, that is something to be very proud of. We started a bit sluggish in doubles but were able to bounce back in singles. The guys brought great energy and jumped out to some early leads in sets and didn't look back. JB and Jacob showed why they are a couple of the top players in the region, and it was great to see Martin playing at a very high level. The next couple of weekends are going to be just as tough but I believe we can continue getting the positive results if we keep playing like we did this match."
 Next up the Bulldogs will travel to Marshall, Missouri next weekend for a match with nationally ranked William Woods University.
