The Bowling Green tennis team went on the road this weekend to face two Mid-American Conference foes.
On Friday, the Falcons saw their four match winning streak come to an end when they were defeated by Ball State 4-3. Then, the Falcons came up short against Miami [Ohio] 5-2 the following day.
Ball State won all three of the doubles matches and then won three of the first four singles matches. The Falcons then won the next two singles contest.
The Cardinals’ duo of Kristel Sanders and Toni Ormond won 8-2 over senior Nikki Chiricosta and sophomore Katie Brozovich. Then, Ball State’s Courtney Wild and Ayaka Terashi beat Falcon freshmen Hannah Drayton and Harley Hutchison, 8-4.
The match between Courtney Earnest and Bethany Moore against senior Emily Reuland and sophomore Drew Fillis was close until the Ball State representatives won the tie breaker match 7-5, giving them the 8-7 win.
In singles play, Hutchison and Reuland each won 10-point tiebreakers to win their matches. Also Terashi got past Drayton, but then Chiricosta swept Earnest.
With the win, Ball State improved to 15-8 overall and 5-2 in MAC play. The Falcons dropped to 10-7 overall and 4-3 in MAC play.
The following day the Falcon traveled to face the Miami RedHawks.
The Falcons started off the day strong winning by picking up two doubles wins to get the doubles points. The RedHawks then responded by winning five of the six singles matches to take the overall victory.
In doubles play Reuland and Fillis picked won 8-2 over Miami’s Alix Thurman and Ana Rajkovic, and then BG’s Drayton and Hutchison downed Christiana Raymond and Ramona Costea.
In singles play Thurman topped Drayton, and then Rajkovic defeated Hutchison at the sixth. Christine Guerrazzi defeated Fillis to give MU a 3-1 advantage. Brozovich defeated Raymond to give the Falcons their second point. Andreea Badileanu clinched the victory for the RedHawks by beating Reuland. Miami’s fifth point came when Nimisha Mohan defeated Chiricosta.
With the win, the RedHawks improved to 15-6 overall and 7-1 in MAC play, and Miami won the MAC’s regular-season title. The Falcons dropped to 10-8 overall and 4-4 in MAC play
The Falcons will now get ready for the MAC championships. As the sixth seed they will travel back to Oxford to face the third seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles on Friday, April 25. The quarterfinal round will be between the fourth— and fifth-seeded schools, Buffalo and Toledo in a match that will be on Friday as well.
The two winners will advance to play in the semifinals on Saturday April 26 semifinals. Miami and Ball State have byes into the semifinal round as they are the top two seeds.
The championship will be on Sunday, April 27.
