Women’s Tennis shut out by Methodist

The Women’s Tennis team struggled in their last conference match of the season, losing 9-0 to USA South opponent Methodist University on Saturday.

With the loss, the Captains fall to 12-4 overall, 6-2 in the conference, and 1-2 in their last three contests. Methodist improves to 19-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference with the victory. The win also guarantees the Monarchs an outright USA South Championship.

A win would have put the Captains in position for a possible three-way tie atop the USA South standings, but the girls could not find their touch in what turned out to be a chilly, overcast day.

In doubles, CNU Sophomores Lauren Kelly and Kim Morrissett were unable to recover from an early deficit and eventually fell 8-2 against Rachel Purser and Dana Powell on court two.

On court three, Freshman Jodi Noland and Sophomore Melisande Downs lead 3-1 early, but several unforced errors allowed their opponents, Laura Baker and Stacey Brooks, to recapture the lead. Noland and Downs would go on to lose 8-4.

The most exciting doubles contest of the day pitted CNU Freshman Sarah Stafford and Sophomore Marion Gloor against Kaitlin Flaherty and Katherine Meindl on court one. For a good portion of the match, Stafford and Gloor went volley for volley against two of Methodist’s most experienced players, but an unforced error sealed an 8-5 victory for the Monarchs.

Heading into singles play, the Captains needed a near-miracle to secure a victory: five wins in six matches against one of the most talented teams on the east coast. They did not get any as the Monarchs swept all six singles matches, outscoring the Captains 75-39.

On courts four through six, Noland, Downs, and Kelly lost their matches to Baker, Powell, and Shelton respectively.

The matches on courts one through three were much more competitive. Stafford provided a glimmer of hope for the Captains by winning 6-3 in her first set against Flaherty, but Flaherty stormed back and took the final two sets 6-0 and 6-1. On court two, Gloor lost in two sets to Meindl, 6-3 and 6-4.

On court three, Morrissett notched a 6-4 victory in her second set against Purser, but lost a 10-6 tiebreaker in her third. The Captains managed only two victories in 14 singles sets.

The girls will wrap up the regular season at Goucher College in Baltimore, Md. on April 10. After that they will travel to Burlington, N.C. for the USA South tournament, where they will be the No. 3 seed out of six teams.

Posted by Mike Schoeffel on Apr 13 2011. Filed under Sports, Tennis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.