Thresher tennis starts conference season undefeated
Three matches within a week didn't stop the men's or women's squads.
SALINA — After Monday evening’s win over Kansas Wesleyan, the Bethel men’s and women’s tennis teams are both undefeated sitting at 3-0 in conference action.
Last Thursday, the Threshers wiped Tabor 7-0 on both sides with a sweep in both the doubles points. They started off KCAC play strong and brought enough energy to handle the Bluejays quickly.
“I personally think I’ve performed really well so far although I had a couple of matches I had to fight through,” junior Michael Cech from Modlany, Czech Republic said. “I think the entire team does a good job in staying locked in which has helped us win every match since the beginning of conference [play].”
Saturday, the teams took the trip to Springfield, Mo. where they took on Evangel in the second conference match. The men pulled off another clean sweep, winning 7-0, while the women won with a 5-2 victory after the clinch at the #6 singles spot.
“It was a really good feeling to be able to clinch for us on Saturday,” sophomore Jenna Mahoney from Gardner said. “Overall, Saturday was a really good test for us to see how well we compete with a good team in our conference and for us to find momentum and energy going into our next matches which led to Kansas Wesleyan.”
Monday, the men and women both moved up to a stellar start in the KCAC with wins over Kansas Wesleyan. Due to rain in the forecast, the match was moved inside and they played to clinch or finish in some areas.
The women won 5-0 with wins at the doubles point, #1 singles, #2 singles, #3 singles, and #4 singles. #5 and #6 singles didn’t finish, but Bethel was confidently ahead. Nalea Payton took the final women's match with a (6-0, 6-1) victory. The men won 4-1 with wins at the doubles point, #2 singles, #3 singles, and #4 singles with #5 and #6 left unfinished.
Petr Kollár was the clinching match for the men with a (6-1, 7-5) win.
“I was really proud of how both teams came out and took care of business,” head coach Gabe Johnson said. “We have really prided ourselves in coming out and competing hard for the doubles point and playing our style of doubles. I thought we did that on both the men’s and women’s sides. These were solid teams and we went out and executed well at each spot.”
Since the Threshers are both undefeated in conference play, the total records are extremely successful carrying over from the fall. The men are now 6-2 overall and the women are 7-0 overall. Bethel is back in action on Thursday at Sterling and Saturday against Southwestern.
