The Falcons came up short Saturday inside the Perrysburg Tennis Center as they were defeated by the Cardinals of the University of Louisville, 5-2.
BG had a rough start out of the gates in the doubles portion of the contest, giving up all three matches. Maddy Eccleston and Emily Reuland nearly had a come-from-behind victory dropping their match within two games by a score of 6-8. Teammates Nikki Chiricosta and Mary Hill were not far behind the margins losing 4-8. Katie Grubb and Jade Johnson would also post a 4-8 defeat.
“We were much closer to them this year than we were last year,” said coach Penny Dean. “I am happy with the changes we made with doubles and I thought we still fought hard.”
In singles play the Falcons came alive, securing two out of the six win opportunities. Emily Reuland celebrated her 20th birthday with a third flight win. The victory puts the sophomore with 30 wins on the year and an overall 5-1 record in dual matches.
Reuland gathered her hard-earned three set win scoring 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (8). Reuland did so by turning several potential forced errors into scoring threats. Reuland was accurate in tracking down numerous over the shoulder lobs and putting them into play, allowing her opponent to accumulate the unforced errors.
Nikki Chiricosta also generated great points on her opponent by generally keeping the ball in play and allowing her foe to make the mistake. Several times pressure was applied to Chiricosta at the end of each set and executed by pounding out points of heavy hitting from the baseline.
Composure and focus led Chiricosta to stay in the match, as her opponent had plenty of across-the-court winners. With Saturday’s win, Chiricosta has 27 victories on the season and her overall record dual matches at 5-1.
Jessica Easdale nearly had a victory in the sixth flight, just giving up the win in the third set scoring 4-6, 7-5, and 1-0 (2). Flights two through five saw improvement in the second set win column compared to the first and ran out of time to establish their rhythm.
“I think overall we did have a lot of good hustle points and helped extended into some good volleys,” Dean said.
With today’s loss the Falcons still sit at .500 percent with a 3-3 record. The Falcons will look to offset their three-game losing streak Saturday as they hit the road to take on the Vikings of Cleveland State University.
