The Bethel tennis teams took on Doane this past Sunday after the cancellation of the match with Texas A&M Texarkana on Saturday due to rain. The men’s and women’s squads both grabbed the victory over the Tigers.

Bethel’s Milan Bucek celebrates a point against Doane on Sunday — *Photo by Jenna Mahoney*

The women's team started strong after winning two of the three doubles matches and earning the doubles point for the scoreboard. Herrera and Nemi won at the one spot (6-2), and Huerta and Payton won at the three spot (6-1). In singles, Herrera (7-6, 6-4), Nemi (7-6, 6-0), Krehbiel (6-4, 6-3), Payton (6-7, 6-2, 10-7), and Mahoney (6-3, 6-0), all took singles wins — making the total count a 6-1 victory for the women.

“Executing this win was tough,” junior Nalea Payton from El Dorado said. “Actually coming out with the win was really gratifying. I really liked how we all overcame challenges within each individual match. This win adds to our conference to help us prepare for conference matches.”

Cech and Kollar took the one spot (6-2), Bucek and Quercia took the two spot (6-4), and Bergeron and Rosas won at the three spot (7-5) for the men. The men’s team was solid from the jump, sweeping the Tigers in all three doubles matches to claim the doubles point for the scoreboard.

Bucek (6-3, 6-4), Cech (6-1, 6-3), Quercia (7-5, 3-6, 13-11), and Rosas (7-5, 6-2) all won singles points to clinch the victory for the men’s team at 5-2.

“I didn’t think I played great yesterday, but I fought against a lot of things and I think pulling that win felt really good,” junior Tomas Quercia from Buenos Aires, Argentina said. “For the team, it was a really good win. I believe that it was satisfactory for the team to win after the hard work we are doing every day at practice. I liked the support on every court, guys like Rodrigo and Petr that lost two close matches, were supporting someone as soon as they left the court.”

“I was really pleased with how both matches went,” head coach Gabe Johnson said. “Both teams showed up and fought from the get-go. Each match was gonna be highly contested. For the men’s and women’s team, Doane is a very solid squad [that] we've had great battles with the last couple of years, so we knew it was gonna be a fight at every spot for every point.

“From the start of that day, warming up, winning doubles and then singles matches, we showed up ready to compete.”

The men’s and women’s tennis teams are back in action Thursday at Sterling. It will be the first KCAC matchup for the Threshers. The women start at 11 a.m. and the men start at 2 p.m.

The Bethel Collegian

Thresher tennis teams capture pair of wins…