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Tiger tennis ends regular season with win
4/22/2009
By NICK McQUEEN
nmcqueen@dailynews.net
Through an 8-10 dual mark during the 2008-09 season, Fort Hays State University tennis coach Brian Flax has seen his team experience the highs and lows.
The youthful Tigers would play well against quality NCAA Division II opponents (like those the Tigers will see at this weekend's conference tournament), but struggled against seemingly lower caliber teams, like that of NAIA member Kansas Wesleyan University on Tuesday at the FHSU Courts.
Still, that didn't stop the Tigers from getting a 6-3 victory over the Coyotes in their final regular-season dual.
"It's a win and we were able to be out there playing and getting some work in the before the tournament," Fort Hays coach Brian Flax said.
Tuesday's dual was similar to a 6-3 Tiger victory just two weeks ago over the same Kansas Wesleyan team. Fort Hays won the first two doubles matches, 8-4 and 8-5, just like last time, but the No. 3 doubles team was beaten in the tiebreaker 9-8 (7-2).
"They had the same type of match two weeks ago," Flax said. "For whatever reason, some of our girls have struggled against teams that might not hit the ball as hard."
If history had repeated itself, Fort Hays would have been swept in the top three singles matches. Tiger freshman Brittney Shea was down 6-5 in the first set at No. 1 before Kansas Wesleyan's Brittany Parke forfeited the match, giving Shea the win.
Freshmen Kelsey Bigando and Amanda Henkel were defeated at No. 2 and No. 3 singles before the freshman trio of Krista Lindsey, Kayla Jarvis, and Valerie Harris swept at 4, 5, and 6 singles.
"We definitely needed another tournament, even though we seemed to struggle at times (Tuesday)," Flax said. "The kids are feeling good about getting the win."
The Tigers have won three out of their last four heading into this week's Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Fort Hays is the No. 7 seed and will wait for this week's action before knowing its first-round opponent.
"We really competed against everybody in the conference pretty hard," Flax said.
"And, we're looking forward to the challenge coming up this weekend.
"I look forward to them stepping up just like they have done all season long. They've proven they can play on this level with some of the best," he added.
The Tigers have shifted their roster all season. With six freshmen and a sophomore, Flax has experimented with several different combinations due to both youth and injury.
"From Day 1 in the fall to the start of the spring to now, we are a much better team than we were last March," Flax said. "We've grown a lot. We are still making some mistakes that really cost us, but there hasn't been any quit in them."
Flax announced Tuesday the signing of two more players for next season and has three commitments now for next year.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |
| BB | 03/07 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 13-7 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 16-4 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | W 3-0 |
| MB | 03/05 | Emporia State | L 65-61 |
| BB | 03/05 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 10-3 |
| WB | 03/04 | No. 15 Emporia | L 72-66 |
| WB | 02/28 | No. 12 Emporia State | L 87-80 |
| MB | 02/28 | Emporia State | W 94-47 |
| SB | 02/28 | Quincy | L 6-0 |
| SB | 02/27 | Mo Southern | W 9-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Missouri S&T | L 8-3 |