The UNK women’s tennis team finished sixth as the host school of the ITA DII National Team Indoor Championship. Including a victory over No. 4 ranked Flagler on Saturday, 4-2.
A victory that was fueled by a great crowd.
“It brings that extra level of energy,” said UNK coach Scott Shafer. “So having them and the rest of the community here was extremely helpful.”
With the support of a big crowd, the No. 8 seeded Lopers took down Flagler in doubles, 2-1. Which included a tiebreaker at the No. 2 spot, where UNK’s Melisa Beccera and Narindra Ranaivo teamed up for the 7-6 triumph.
The win secured UNK’s second doubles point win of the weekend. As they also handled No. 1 ranked Barry on Friday in doubles, 2-1, but eventually fell in the match, 5-1.
To secure victory over Flagler, UNK got wins in singles from Jazmin Zamorano, Melisa Becerra and Alexis Bernthal to win the match, 4-2.
The win sent UNK to the fifth/sixth place match, where they faced off against Wayne State (MI). Where the Lopers fell in doubles, 2-0, to start the match. From there, UNK got singles wins from Ranaivo and Fabiana Gamboa, but were unable to complete the comeback and fell, 4-2.
Even with the loss to end the weekend, coach Shafer knows his team can hang with the best and remains focused on the overall goal for the season.
“We have one goal this year and it’s to get out of the first round of the MIAA tournament,” Shafer said. “It’s been three years straight that our season has ended [there].”
The Lopers will hit the road for most of March with seven road matches, beginning with a trip to take on Augustana on March 3. They will return home on March 28 for their first MIAA matchup of the season against Newman at Harmon Park.
