UNK Almost Upsets UCO
Kearney, Neb. – Argentina sophomore Nefeli Zafeiri rallied to win at number three singles to help No. 8 Central Oklahoma get past Nebraska Kearney, 4-3, in the seventh-place match of the ITA Women's Indoor Team National Championships Sunday at the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center. The Lopers (8-5) fell 4-1 to seventh-ranked Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon. UCO (4-4), defending National Runners Up, lost to 4-0 to ninth-ranked North Georgia in its consolation match. These two teams will meet on April 2 at Harmon Park in Kearney. The 'Chos, hit hard by graduation and the transfer portal after last year's run, took the doubles point and then swept number six and four singles. However, UNK won the next three singles matches (five, one and two) to setup a winner-take-all at number three. "I knew today what was going to happen. I literally knew we were going to lose at doubles, I literally knew Jazmin (number two) and Masha (number five) were going to win and they would win at six," said UNK head coach Scott Shafer. "We needed either Melissa (one) or Alexis (four) to win." Madagascar sophomore Narindra Ranaivo got past Zafeiri, 7-6 (11-9), in a marathon first set and was up 4-2 in the second. At this time, both Colombian sophomore Melisa Becerra (one) and Mexican Jazmin Zamorano (two) were in the final stages of their respective matches. Zafeiri tallied the final four points of the second set to win and then controlled the third set, getting out to leads of 2-0 and 4-0 before winning (6-7, 6-4, 6-3). "This match didn't go quite as I anticipated. Give a lot of credit to (Zafeiri); she made tons of balls and Narindra's wrist was hurting and she got smart at the end. She kept hitting high balls to Narindra's backhand and she wasn't able to hit the ball," said Shafer. Ranked 12th in the Central Region, Becerra swept the region's 14th-ranked singles player (6-3, 7-6) with Zamorano outlasting nationally-ranked doubles player Blythe Buntrock (6-1, 5-7, 6-4) at two. Finally, Belarus sophomore Masha Hatouka swept her number five match (6-0, 7-6). "We're going to have to get better at doubles. We think we're good at doubles but the girls need to take more risks at the appropriate time," said Shafer. UNK is now off until March 9 when it faces Northwest Missouri State to begin MIAA play. That dual will be held in the Grundy or at Harmon Park, depending on the weather. Later Sunday, Flagler (Fla.) battles UIndy for fifth place, North Georgia faces Hawaii Pacific for third with top-ranked Barry (Fla.) taking on St. Leo for the title. "It's been a long couple of days but we're lucky enough to have all these teams want to be here. They love this event and it's very prestigious. It brings all this talent here and it's great for our program and the community," said Shafer. "These matches, although disappointing and somewhat heartbreaking at times, are going to help down the road. Adversity makes you think what do I need to do differently and better?"
Comments