Men's Tennis | 9/15/2021 1:54:00 PM
Winfield, Kan. – The McPherson College men's and women's tennis teams opened up the tournament portion of their schedule this past weekend at the Tiger-Jinx Invitational hosted by Southwestern College and Cowley Community College.
In collegiate tennis the spring season, which is their main season, the focus is on the team. Teams square off in a dual format with the fist team to 7 points wins the dual. However, in the fall, the focus shifts to the individual in a tournament style format. For back to back to back weekends in the fall, the Bulldogs will play three tournaments starting with the Tiger-Jinx, followed by the KCAC individual championships, then culminating with the ITA Regional Championships. If any of the Bulldogs win the ITA Regional Tournament, they will participate in a fourth fall tournament, the ITA Oracle Cup in Rome, Georgia in mid-October.
This past weekend's tournament in Winfield had six singles and two doubles flights. For the Bulldog women, they entered five of the six singles flights and had participants in both doubles flights. Three Bulldog ladies, Vanessa Mundo, Erica Paradise, and Polina Khoroshevskaya were entered in the B flight, Grace Maxey and Kayla Ortiz were entered in the C flight, Kendra Maples was the lone Bulldog in the D flight, Savannah McHugh and Sydney Hicks were in the E flight, and freshman Sharon Kroul rounded things out in flight F. In doubles, Khoroshevskaya partnered with Ortiz in the A flight, as did Maxey and Maples, and Paradise and Mundo. In the B flight, Hicks and McHugh were the lone Bulldog entry.
Below is how each Bulldog fared in their respective flight.
|
Name
|
Flight
|
Record
|
|
Khoroshevskaya
|
B
|
3-1 (2nd)
|
|
Paradise
|
B
|
1-2
|
|
Mundo
|
B
|
0-2
|
|
Ortiz
|
C
|
1-1
|
|
Maxey
|
C
|
3-1 (3rd)
|
|
Maples
|
D
|
3-1 (3rd)
|
|
McHugh
|
E
|
0-2
|
|
Hicks
|
E
|
1-1
|
|
Kroul
|
F
|
1-1
|
For the Bulldog men they had nine singles participants in four of the six flights, and five doubles teams, three in flight A, and two in flight B. In the singles A flight, the Bulldogs entered Michael Beltran, Martin Millos, and Thomas Zych. In flight B, the Bulldogs were represented by Daniel Marcano, Rainy Yuan, and Davis Alksnis. The C flight included Trey Murphy and Oscar Brouwer, and in flight D, Diogo Tavares was the lone Bulldog entry. In Doubles, Millos and Zych, Beltran and Jakob Komel, and Murphy and Mercano were slotted into the A flight while Yuan and Brouwer, and Tavares and Alksnis played out of the B flight.
Below are the Bulldogs' singles results.
|
Name
|
Flight
|
Record
|
|
Beltran
|
A
|
4-1 (3rd)
|
|
Millos
|
A
|
1-1
|
|
Zych
|
A
|
1-1
|
|
Mercano
|
B
|
2-1
|
|
Yuan
|
B
|
2-1
|
|
Alksnis
|
B
|
0-1
|
|
Murphy
|
C
|
3-1 (3rd)
|
|
Brouwer
|
C
|
3-1 (2nd)
|
|
Tavares
|
D
|
0-2
|
In all, the Bulldog men and women came home from Winfield with seven medals. On the women's side it was silver for Khoroshevskaya in singles, and bronze for Maxey and Maples in their respective singles draws. For the men, it was bronze for Beltran and Murphy in singles, silver for Brouwer in singles, and gold for Brouwer and Yuan in the B doubles flight.
"It was a great way to start off the fall season", commented Bulldog head coach Clay Allen. "Collecting a total of 7 medals in a competitive and deep tournament like the Tiger Jynx is very difficult. Fo a lot of the players it was their first collegiate competition and they handled themselves with class. The next two weekends will be just as tough but I believe we will be ready."
Next up for the Bulldogs is another trip down to Winfield for the KCAC Individual Championships hosted by Southwestern College. Matches begin Friday morning and will conclude on Saturday.
