Women’s and Men's tennis squads fall in spring season opener
With a few promising results, the teams look forward to the rest of the season.
EMPORIA — On Tuesday and Wednesday, both Bethel tennis teams competed in their spring season opener against Emporia State at the W.S. & E.C. Jones Trust Clubhouse.
On the men's side, the Threshers fell (0-7). In the doubles point, Bucek and Kollar won at the one spot (6-4), Quercia and Sanchez lost at the two spot (0-6), and Menard and Bergeron lost at three (2-6) to lose the overall doubles point.
In singles, the men lost all matches. But in doubles, Bucek and Kollar were the standout match. “I think we had it under control,” said freshman Petr Kollar from Teplice, Czech Republic. “The opponents were playing up and down but we kept our service games the whole match and played well at the end for the important points.”
On the women's side, Bethel also fell (1-6) to a strong Hornet team. In the doubles point, Herrera and Nemi lost at the one spot (2-6), Krehbiel and Dawes lost at the two spot (3-6), and Huerta and Payton lost at the three spot (0-6) to lose the doubles point in a clean sweep.
In singles, the women all lost in two sets except for the lone survivor who took a win from her opponent. “We had a high energy environment,” said freshman Patty Huerta from McPherson. “In doubles, the energy started off slow, but in singles everyone was yelling and cheering for each other.” Huerta played at the 6 singles spot and won (1-6, 7-6, 8-6) her match and immediately afterwards “felt pure joy” for feeling like her singles game was back.
“It was good for us to get out and have our first match of the year,” head coach Gabe Johnson said. “Obviously, you're gonna have a little bit of rust coming back to a match, but we went out and competed well, and kept our energy up and that was the goal. I think the shots will come, the wins will come and we keep putting in work for the season so this just gives us a good look at where we are currently and what we can look at going forward.”
The men’s team is back in action this Saturday against Midland University in Fremont, Neb. The women’s and men’s team will have a duel on Feb. 22 at Newman.