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Tiger tennis in home action
3/22/2009
By NICK McQUEEN
nmcqueen@dailynews.net
Saturday's 9-0 score in a loss at the hands of University of Nebraska-Omaha won't probably show a great deal of positives for the Fort Hays State University tennis team.
But with six freshman and a sophomore on the roster for the Tigers, Fort Hays coach Brian Flax isn't necessarily looking for wins in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
One day after picking up their first MIAA dual victory of the season, a 5-4 decision over Missouri Western State University, the Tigers showed even more improvement in the loss.
"They are one of the better teams in this conference. I was probably more impressed with UNO than the Emporia and Washburn teams we saw last week," Flax said. "And, the scores won't show it, but we actually came out and performed better against a better team than we did in the win."
With the Saturday loss, Fort Hays dropped to 4-7 on the season and 1-3 in MIAA duals and will host Missouri Southern State University in another MIAA dual.
Nebraska-Omaha moved to 6-4 and 3-0 in MIAA play.
Saturday was supposed to be a doubleheader with Nebraska-Omaha and Northwest Missouri State University, but an undesirable weather forecast kept the Bearcats from making the trip.
Fort Hays is scheduled to make up the dual in Maryville, Mo., on April 3.
"The kids played hard today, and they are going to continue to improve," Flax said. "The thing I like about this group is they come to practice hard every day, and they don't have any quit in them. It showed out there today."
In one of the more competitive matches, Tiger freshman Kelsey Bigando took Nebraska-Omaha freshman Traci Moklestad to three sets, dropping a 6-2, 4-6, 6-10 decision. Moklestad moved to 2-1 in conference play, while Bigando fell to 1-3 in MIAA play and 5-6 overall in singles competition.
"It would have been nice to see her come away with that one today, because that's a great player from UNO and she took her to the wire," Flax said. "She's part of that reason these girls come out hard every day. She has definitely emerged as one of our leaders."
Bigando was one of three singles wins for the Tigers in Friday's victory over Missouri Western. She also teamed up with freshman Amanda Henkel for an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles. The win was just the duo's second as a team this season. Freshman Valerie Harris and sophomore Kelly Smidt picked up an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles to move to 3-1 as a team this season, but an 8-0 loss to Nebraska-Omaha dropped that mark to 3-2.
The team win, though, over Western was the Tigers' second regular-season dual win since joining the conference three seasons ago. The first was also over the Griffons. Fort Hays has also won an MIAA tournament dual against Missouri Southern.
"Any time you can pick up a win, it's a good one," Flax said. "It was nice to see us get that first one in the conference, but we'll continue to get better as we get into it a little bit more."
Friday's dual at the FHSU Courts is slated for 9:30 a.m.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |