Women’s tennis (9-1) and men’s tennis (1-7) each faced Cleveland State Saturday at the CSU Medical Mutual Tennis Center — with very different results.
The women’s squad pulled out a 4-3 victory to win its ninth match of the season while men’s tennis fell to the Vikings by the same score.
The women’s team just managed to squeak out the doubles point. A strong start saw senior Nikoleta Antoniou-Karademitrou and fifth-year senior Gabriella Akopyan bag a 6-3 win, followed by a harsh 6-1 loss in second doubles. Senior Pia Schwarz and junior Azra Deniz Comlek went on to seal the win with a 7-5 victory in third doubles.
Singles was a grueling battle to the top as three of the six matches went into third sets. Cleveland State clinched first, second and fifth singles before the Bulls reinstated their dominance on the court.
Junior Ambre Amat won at fourth singles and sophomore Mariana Carvajal Torres clinched sixth singles, leaving it down to Akopyan to ace her serves.
Akopyan won her first set, 6-2, before losing steam in her second with a 7-5 defeat. But a 6-4 performance in her third set clinched the match for the Bulls.
Men’s tennis — a squad that has struggled all season to find consistency — disappointed with a 4-3 loss.
Despite the defeat, the Bulls made their mark early by securing the doubles point. Senior-freshman duo Simon Wibler and Daniils Snaiders clinched a 6-4 win in second doubles, while sophomore Finn Macnamara and junior Greg Hastings managed to secure third doubles, 6-2.
Similar to the women’s team, the men fought an exhausting battle for victory, with three matches going into three sets. Macnamara’s third singles saw a 7-6, 1-6, 1-4 win, as Snaiders overcame a first set loss to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, but ultimately failed to conquer the Vikings.
Women’s tennis will host Youngstown State Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at the Miller Tennis Center, while men’s tennis will compete on March 12 to open Mid-American Conference play at Binghamton.
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is a history major studying abroad for a year from Newcastle University in the UK. In her spare time, she can be found blasting The 1975 or Taylor Swift and rowing on a random river at 5 a.m.
