Tennis teams battle through consolation bracket
The Panther men’s and women’s tennis teams traveled to Nashville and finished off their seasons this weekend by competing in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships at Tennessee State University.
In Friday’s first round action, the men, seeded sixth, lost to the University of Tennessee-Martin 4-1. The only victory came from the No. 6 singles competitor Jason Braun as he won his match 6-0, 6-1.
The women, seeded forth, also lost their first-round match. They dropped a tough match to Morehead State University 4-3 as they picked up victories from the No. 2 (Becky Carlson 6-4, 6-2) No. 3 (Sarah Freeman 7-5, 7-5 ) and No. 5 (Amber Lenfert 6-2, 6,1 ) singles matchups.
Both teams failed to pick up any double points in the first round but the women did manage to claim victory in one of the matches. The No.3 matchup with he paring of Yovita Widyadharma-Kristi Martin won their match by the score of 8-4.
In losing their first matches, both teams landed themselves in consolation bracket matches Saturday.
In second round action, the men defeated Austin Peay State University 4-1.
Victories by Jason Braun (6-1, 6-3), Andy Baker (6-0, 6-0), and Matt Sadler (6-1, 6-3) helped the men advance to the next round.
The Panther men also had a clean sweep of the doubles competition and earned the point with the parings of Brandon Blankenbaker-Kyle White (8-5), Lukasz Pluta-Braun (8-6), and Baker-Sadler (8-0).
The women also won their second round match by shutting out opponent Southeastern Missouri State University 5-0. Becky Brunner (6-2, 6-2), Widyadharma (6-2, 6-2), Lenfert (6-0, 6-0) and Barbara Wolfe (default) won their matches to put the Panthers into the final round.
The women were able to add the doubles point to their total match score with victories by the parings of Brunner/Freeman (8-1) and Widyadharma/Martin (default).
Both teams advanced third round competition, the fifth place final matches were played Sunday.
The men will faced Morehead State University and the women will take on Eastern Kentucky University Sunday.
