KEARNEY, Neb. – Fort Hays State Tennis fell to No. 43 ranked Nebraska-Kearney in its final conference match of the regular season on Wednesday afternoon (April 12). The loss pushed Fort Hays State's record to 7-13, 0-8 MIAA, while UNK improved to 14-10, 4-4 MIAA.
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The Lopers clinched the doubles point in the competition after topping the Tigers in all three of the contested matches. Each of the three Fort Hays State doubles pairings were able to steal a game from UNK.
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Nebraska-Kearney took five of the six singles matches on the day, but
Irina Alfonso (No. 1) and
Maria Paz Diaz (No. 4) put up fights in their losses. Alfonso won a total of five games in her two sets, 6-1 and 6-4. Paz Diaz was able to claim the first set over her opponent, 7-6, but fell in set two and the tiebreaker set by scores of 6-0, 10-7.
Grace Unruh (No. 6) came away with the lone singles win for the Tigers on Wednesday. Unruh limited her opponent to just three game wins over her straight set victory with scores of 6-1, 6-2.
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Stefany Stemmer fell in straight sets at the No. 2 position, 6-1 in both.
Fiorella Mendez (No. 3) and
Kylie Aufdengarten (No. 5) were also topped in straight sets.
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Heidi Lubbers competed in a singles exhibition match, winning 6-3.
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The Tigers are set to play two more road matches this weekend with the first one being on Saturday (April 15) against Henderson State. That match will start at 1:00 p.m. Sunday (April 16) the team will take on Ouachita Baptist at 12:00 p.m. Both schools are located in Arkadelphia, Ark., right across the road from each other in what is the closest proximity between two NCAA Division II schools. Both compete in the Great American Conference.
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