KEARNEY, Neb. – Fort Hays State Tennis dropped its conference-opening match of the 2022-23 season to Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday afternoon (Mar. 8) at the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center in Kearney. The Bearcats won 7-0 moving to 7-3 overall, 1-0 MIAA, while the Tigers moved to 5-4 overall, 0-1 MIAA.
The No. 2 doubles team of Heidi Lubbers and Fiorella Mendez came up just shy of a win, falling 6-4 to Vera Alenicheva and Carolina DeOliveira. The Bearcats clinched the one team point for doubles by surrendering just one point between the No. 1 and No. 3 matches. The Bearcats clinched their win as a team by allowing just one game point over the No. 1, 5, and 6 singles matches to go up 4-0.
After being outscored 6-1 in her first set, Irina Alfonso (No. 2) nearly forced a tiebreaker in the second set falling 7-5 to Tyffaine Pais. Fiorella Mendez also nearly forced a tiebreaker in her second set against Carolina Caetano Reis at the No. 3 singles spot. Mendez won the most games by a Tiger on the day with eight in her contest, dropping the match by scores of 6-3, 7-5. Maria Paz Diaz (No. 4) notched five games in a 6-3, 6-2 loss.
The Tigers will square off with another conference foe on Thursday (Mar. 9) at 2:00 pm against Washburn. The event will also be at the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center in Kearney, Neb.
