UNK Puts Up a Good Fight Against 5-Time Defending D2 Champs
Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska Kearney women's tennis team battled for two hours but eventually fell to top-ranked and five-time defending national champion Barry (Fla.) University, 4-0, Friday night at the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center. This was day one of the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Division II National Women's Indoor Team Championships. The eighth-seeded Lopers (8-3) face fourth-seed and seventh-ranked Indianapolis Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in one consolation match. UIndy fell to fifth-seed and fourth-ranked Hawaii Pacific, 4-0, in the third match of the day. On the other side of the bracket, third-seeded St. Leo (Fla.) outlasted fourth-seeded Flagler (Fla.), 4-2, with seventh-seed North Georgia sweeping second-seed and MIAA member Central Oklahoma. Playing one of the best opponents in program history, UNK more than battled in front of a nice weekend crowd at the Grundy. The Lopers threatened to take the doubles point, did win at three doubles, and then put-up fights up and down the singles lineup. "After the match all I said to them was 'girls this is the start of our weekend. We didn't come here to play Barry. We came here to perform well over the whole weekend.' Tonight, we were composed, focused and they were fighting," said Loper head coach Scott Shafer. "That'll be the challenge for the rest of the weekend. It's easy to get up for the number one team in the country." UNK's number three dubs team of Colorado sophomore Alexis Bernthal and Adams Central graduate Merci Hood tallied five of the last six points to best BU's pair from Austria and China, 6-2. Juniors Melisa Becerra (Colombia) and Jazmin Zamorano (Mexico) had things tied at four in the top spot before falling 6-4 with sophomores Masha Hatouka (Belarus) and Narindra Ranaivo (Madagascar) trailing just 4-3 at number two and then losing by three. "We work had in doubles, I trust them and they know what they are doing. Barry was nervous … very, very nervous in doubles," said Shafer. "We capitalized and that's what we needed. Our team could see they belonged on the court with them." In singles, Bernthal jumped out to a 3-0 lead at number over Austrian sophomore Selina Pichler. However, Pichler came back to tie things at five and six before Bernthal won the tiebreak, 7-4. Next, Becerra faced the top-ranked player in D2, Israel senior Deniz Khazan, and lost by a 6-4, 6-2 score with Hatouka battling 21st-ranked Daniela Farfan, a senior from Argentina, at number five (6-4, 5-2; unfinished). "We persisted throughout and that's going to help the whole weekend I think," said Shafer. "We tried to use the crowd to our advantage tonight. We told our team to perform for them … they are here to cheer for you and give them a reason to cheer."
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