Bethel tennis opens homestand with doubleheader
The Thresher men picked up wins against Ottawa (Ariz.) and Midland while the women fell in both matches 3-4.
The men’s and women’s tennis teams played a doubleheader on Friday at home as they took on Ottawa University (Ariz.) and Midland University.
On the women's side, the first match against Ottawa University of Arizona was led by Jenna Mahoney who captured her singles win at #5 without dropping a game 6-0, 6-0, and Patty Huerta who won at #6 by default. The Threshers also took the doubles point with the #1 pairing of Daniela Casique and Halle Krehbiel won 6-3 and Huerta and her partner Nalea Payton won at the #2 spot, 6-3. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough and after leading 3-0, they eventually fell 3-4 in team score.
“Friday was a good day for us to establish the type of energy we need as a team for the rest of the season,” said Mahoney from Gardner. “In my matches, I played some of my best tennis and was able to come away with good results to keep me confident going into this week.”
The second match against Midland University started rough with losing the doubles point on all three courts for the women’s team. Singles stepped up with Casique winning at the #1 spot without dropping a game, 6-0, 6-0. Mahoney came away with another win at the #5 spot, 6-1, 6-1 and Huerta picked up the win at the #6 spot, 6-1, 6-1. Again, that wasn’t enough as the other three singles had tough battles and in the end, fell 3-4 in team score.
“On the women's side I thought we're starting to figure some things out,” said head coach Gabe Johnson. “We played the best doubles I think of our season in our first match-up against Ottawa. We had two huge wins and a big doubles point. I think now it's just finding our confidence in our rhythm on the singles court, we have a very capable team. I'm looking forward to the women's team having that breakthrough and I know they're looking forward to these next matches after a couple tough 3-4 losses.”
On the men’s side, the first match was dominant as the men took the win from Ottawa with a score of 6-1 after wins from the doubles point in all three spots and Milan Bucek at the #1 spot, 7-6, 6-2, Petr Kollár at #3, 6-1, 6-3, Rodrigo Sanchez at #4, 6-1, 6-3, Moses Sawatzky won 6-2, 6-3, at the #5 spot and Jonah Bergeron rounded them out at the #6 spot, 6-0, 6-1. This dominant performance and energy carried over into the Midland University match less than 2 hours later.
Midland came into this match fired up as they were receiving votes in the latest NAIA polls. The doubles point had a wild turnaround as the pairing of Sanchez and Bergeron came off court three swiftly with a 6-4 win. Not long after, both court one and two came back from being down 1-4 and 2-5, and unfortunately, the pairing of James Menard and Tomas Quercia could not hold it out at the #2 spot as they fell 6-4.
With the doubles score being 1-1, the pressure was put on Bucek and Kollár at the #1 doubles spot who ended up pulling through for the doubles point and winning 7-6(3). The singles fell in line afterward with wins from Bucek at #1, 7-6, 6-2, Kollár at #3, 6-4, 7-5, Sanchez at #4 6-1, 6-1, who clinched it for the team, and lastly Bergeron at #6 6-2, 6-4.
“I’m very happy to win with my team in such an important win,” said Sanchez from La Paz, Bolivia. “I think I played my best performance so far this semester, and the whole team had a really good performance as well. Everyone was giving their best until the last point and the energy and support was incredible. The whole team did an amazing job to grab an important win like this one.”
Both teams have another two matches coming up on Friday and Saturday before they take their spring break trip to San Antonio, Texas.
“I thought Friday was another step for both teams and our season on the men’s side picked up two really good wins,” Johnson said. “I thought we had a solid performance versus Ottawa Arizona but I was really happy with the performance of the entire team against Midland. That was a huge win I think for us, obviously no Michael due to injury so we had some other guys step up and people moved into the lineup without missing a beat and thought everyone understood that we had to. It was definitely one of the best team wins that we've had since I've been here on the men's side.”
The women are now 2-2 in overall record after this weekend and the men are now 4-0 in overall record, starting the season strong on both sides as they will compete Friday at home against Texas A&M-Texarkana starting at 4 p.m.