HUNTSVILLE
– The University of North Alabama men’s and
women’s tennis teams each posted a 1-1
record at the weather-shortened Gulf South
Conference Jamboree last weekend in
Huntsville. After dropping a match to
nationally-ranked West Florida, the Lion
teams each responded with victories over
in-state rival and event host
Alabama-Huntsville.
Weather forced
the cancellation of the men’s and women’s
matches against West Alabama and Valdosta
State. The Lions have rescheduled the UWA
match for Tuesday, April 1, at home, but
will not make up the VSU match.
On the men’s
side, West Florida got singles victories at
the one, five and six spots en route to a
5-1 win. The Lions’ best chances at wins
were not finished once the Argonauts picked
up the fifth victory. At the No. 2 spot,
UNA’s Zac Bereznicki split the first two
sets and was tied 3-3 in the third when the
match was called.
The Lion’s
Chris Sodemann won his first set at No. 3
and was up 4-3 in the second set.
Bereznicki also
teamed with Carlos Cardenas to record UNA’s
only win with a 9-7 victory at No. 1
doubles.
Against UAH,
the UNA men cruised to a 7-2, giving the
team a 3-4 record on the year. The Lions
swept through all the games played, yielding
its only two losses by default.
With a win
against the Chargers, Jan Miskos climbed
above the .500 mark with a 4-3 record at the
No. 1 sport. Bereznicki and Cardenas also
paired to get another win and improve to 2-0
on the year in No. 1 doubles
On the women’s
side, the Lions got a win at No. 1 singles
and No. 2 doubles before falling 5-2 to the
18th- ranked Argos. Phippa Reakes improved
to 4-2 on the year at the top singles spot
with her 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory. Yuliya
Zelenskaya and Louise Klasen also made their
debut as a team and picked up an 8-6 win.
Against the
Lady Chargers, UNA posted wins in eight of
the nine matches to walk away with the 8-1
victory and improved to 3-4 on the year. The
Lions swept through doubles competition with
wins at all three spots.
Zelenskaya and
Klasen improved their doubles record to 2-0
along the way with a win at No. 2.
UNA then
re-shuffled its lineup with Reakes out of
singles play due to soreness. With every
player at one spot higher than normal, the
Lions still managed to win five of the six
singles matches and improve to 3-4 on the
year.
Both UNA teams
will return to action on March 11 when they
host Division I Western Kentucky. First
serve is set for 1:00 at the UNA Tennis
Complex
