McPHERSON, Kan. – The Southwestern College men's and (RV) women's tennis squads battled the McPherson College Bulldogs tennis teams in McPherson, Kan. on Sunday afternoon. The battles were important ones for both Builder groups, as they both were looking to keep their undefeated seasons alive. The women were able to do so in taking a 6-1 win over the Bulldogs, while the men could not quite nab their ninth consecutive Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) triumph over the No. 24-ranked McPherson men, falling 4-3.
The SC men struggled to collect their points early on in their battle, as the doubles point went outright to the Bulldogs. None of the three Builder pairings were able to take their doubles matchup, as McPherson nabbed the opening point of the match.
In singles, David Moral-Tebar did take a hugely important match number one in singles, as he outdueled his counterpart by a final line score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. He surged back after the opening set loss to his opponent to take the final two stanzas of the tilt. Benjamin Erdmann was the next Moundbuilder to earn a singles victory, as he swiped a 6-2, 6-4 win in the fourth singles match on the docket. Emanuel Azam won match number six for the Builders, as well, as he took the three-set win 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. The one match that could have swung things for the Builders was single match number five, where Jonathan De La O battled valiantly but dropped the bout by a score of 0-6, 6-1, 4-6. At the end of play, Southwestern was slimly outdueled by the Bulldogs, 4-3.
The women would raise the spirits for the Builders, though, as they took two out of three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Samantha Loving and Catherine Coe grabbed a simple 6-2 win in the top doubles matchup, before the third matchup where Ella Hartnett and Laura Adey also won by a 6-2 final tally. They headed into the singles arena with a 1-0 lead over the Bulldogs.
In singles, the squad nearly went the distance with a straight sweep, as singles matches one through five went the way of the Moundbuilders. Loving started things off with a strong 6-4, 6-1 win over her opponent in the first singles match, and was followed by Monalisa Chakraborty, who won by the same tally over her opponent in the No. 2 singles matchup. Coe would play in the third singles battle, taking a 6-4, 6-2 victory over her McPherson competitor to seal the SC win overall. Then, in the fourth singles match, Jasmin Hauska handled her counterpart by a tally of 6-0, 6-4 to reach the fifth singles match with a 5-0 lead. Adey would take care of business in the fifth singles bout, winning in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 10-4. When it was all said and done, Southwestern left McPherson with a 6-1 win, and an undefeated conference season to their credit. With the triumph, they also became outright KCAC Regular Season Champions for the second straight season.
Builder tennis will now head on to the KCAC Championships from April 27-30 as the Quarterfinals will be held at the higher seed's home site on April 27 and 28, and the semifinals and finals will be played at Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka, Kan. on April 29 and 30. The SC women's squad will get a free pass on to the semifinals on April 29, and will be waiting in Topeka on the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed matchup. For the men, today's loss cements them as the No. 2 seed, meaning that also will receive a free bid to the semifinals at Kossover. They will then battle the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 6 seed Quarterfinal matchup on April 29. It is an exciting time for SC tennis, as both teams hope to come away with KCAC Championship titles in 2022.
--buildersports.com--
