This weekend's match took both Southwestern's men and women tennis team to Colorado Springs. At over 6,000 feet above sea level, the Pirates hit the courts to face Colorado College and Hastings on Saturday. With the temperature in the high 30s at 9 am, both men and women fell to Colorado College 2-7 and 3-6.
Men's doubles produced several very close matches with Egan Cornachione/Sam McCready (#1) falling 7-9 to Lindsay/Gunter and Jonathan Sandoval/Alec Bergerson (#3) losing in a tie breaker 8-9 (1-7) to Kasamodel/Shaw. Andy Clarage/Omeed Azmoudeh (#2) were defeated by Burger and White 2-8.
Singles produced a few wins for the men with Clarage (#2) beating Kasamodel 6-1, 6-4 and McCready (#3) taking down Gunter 6-4, 7-5. Bergerson (#4) lost a very close match to White 6-7(4-7), 3-6 while Cornchione (#1) fell 2-6, 3-6 to Lindsay and Azmoudeh (#6) fell 2-6, 0-6 to Shaw. Sandoval (#5) had a close first set but lost to Burger 4-6, 2-6.
Doubles did not fare much better for the women, with Aimee Blake/Elizabeth Ellis (#1) losing 5-8 to Edman/Patterson and Virginia Stofer/Gabby Hunt (#2) losing 3-8 to Bush/Harwood. Sarah Johnson/Marieke Visser (#3) played a close match but ultimately lost 7-9 to Cary/Criss.
Singles went slightly better with Hunt (#2) easily handling Patterson 6-2, 6-1, Visser (#4) putting away Criss 6-3, 6-2 and Kristina Krampitz (#6) beating Severson 6-4, 6-2. Unfortunately Johnson (#3) lost 0-6, 1-6 to Bush and Ellis (#5) lost 1-6, 3-6 to Harwood. Blake (#1) fought very hard through 3 sets, but was ultimately defeated 5-7, 6-3, 4-6.
A couple hours later, the Southwestern men and women took on Hastings College. The men did a little bit better with a 3-6 loss and the women managed a 7-2 win.
Doubles play against Hastings did not go very well for the men with Cornachione/McCready (#1) losing 2-8 to McKay/Ritzdorf and Sandoval/Bergerson (#3) 4-8 to Mertens/Bliven. Clarage/Alvaro Rojas (#2) managed to pick up some games but lost 5-8 to Metheny/Dexter.
In singles, McCready (#3) defeated Dexter 6-2, 6-4 and Sandoval (#5) easily took down Bliven 6-3, 6-0. Rojas (#6) won two close sets to beat Matheny 6-4, 7-5. However Cornachione (#1) lost 1-6, 2-6 to Inman and Bergerson (#5) was defeated 0-6, 4-6 by Mertens. After a long match and two tie breakers, Clarage (#2) lost 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 10-12 to Ritzdorf.
The women easily took control of doubles, winning all three matches. Blake/Ellis (#1) defeated Clinch/Parde 8-4. Hunt/Stofer (#2) effortlessly beat Steele/Bridger 8-1, while Johnson/Visser (#3) crushed Steffan/Zach 8-1.
The women carried their momentum into singles with Blake (#1) beating Clinch 6-3, 6-4 and Hunt (#2) beating Parde 6-0, 6-2. Krampitz (#6) easily defeated Bridger 6-2, 6-1 and Visser (#5) made short work of Zach 6-1, 6-0. Johnson (#3) played a close second set but ultimately lost the set tie breaker 3-6, 6-7 (5-7). Ellis (#5) split sets with Steffen but ending up losing 2-6, 6-0, 8-10.
In their last match before the SCAC tournament, the Pirates will face Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton Friday April 19th.