The BG tennis team emerged from the weekend gathering a conference victory and loss, improving its Mid-American Conference record to 2-1, placing them third in the standings.
Akron (17-2, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) brought a “nothing less than expected” effort to the court with its battle over BG, winning 7-0. The Zips swept the Falcons in doubles and all the way through the single flights.
Though BG did not capture a match victory, it did, however, win four games in four different sets during singles play.
Mary Hill had the closest chance to a victory, winning eight games to her opponents 12 in the fourth flight.
Nikki Chiricosta also put a valiant effort and accomplished seven wins to her opponents 12 in two sets of work at the top flight.
Hill and Jade Johnson were the top performers in the doubles portion by coming up just short 8-6 in the third flight.
Chiricosta and Emily Reuland had nothing to hang their head about as the duo took five games in a total of eight to the Zips No. 1 doubles pair of Zara Harutyunyan and Prang Pantusart. Harutyunyan and Pantusart have dominated their opponents up until this point, building a 17-0 record in dual-match play this season (4-0 in the MAC).
“We competed so hard in this match and we were up in the set at times even, I’m really proud to how we handled Akron,” said coach Penny Dean.
BG’s success this weekend came over Buffalo as they attained a 4-3 defeat over the Bulls.
Chiricosta came to play by shutting down her foe 6-0, 6-1. Additional high marks in the match were seen by Hill taking down her opponent 12 games to four and Katie Grubb advancing past her foe 6-2, 6-3.
As for the doubles portion for the Falcons, they were on a roll yet again, capturing all three flights. The Buffalo match marked the third time Bowling Green has swept their opponent across the board for the doubles point.
“We were 6-0 the last two matches in doubles and have really came on strong there,” Dean said. “I feel even though it looked like a close 4-3 match it probably could have been a lot worse for Buffalo. Mary was up 4-1 in the first set along with some other players and we seemed to really dominate them early.”
The Falcons will take on the RedHawks from Miami next Friday at 1 p.m. in Oxford. Miami is currently leading in the MAC standings with a 4-0 conference record. The Falcons will then play Northern Illinois the following day in Muncie, Ind. At 1 p.m.
