Box Score
Reading, PA - In a nail biting Commonwealth match, the Falcons women's tennis team fell to the Crusaders of Alvernia University by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon.
Both teams entered this match without a win in the conference and looking to defeat the other and pick up their first Commonwealth win.
The Falcons were without junior
Ellen Harpold for the match and looked to find a way to rise to the occasion in her absence.
The match began with doubles action and Messiah came out aggressively.
At number two doubles
Jennifer Kitlan joined
Katelyn Clark for the first time to defeat their Alvernia foes by a score of 8-4 in the pro set.
Another new pair joined forces at number three doubles for the Falcons.
Michelle Curtis and
Evonne Herrold put together the right shots to conquer the Crusaders number three doubles team 8-4.
The top doubles match was back and forth with either team able to come away with a victory. The Falcons best pairing of
Sarah Brookhart and
Erin Ipsen just could not finish with the shots they needed and fell 8-6 in the final doubles match of the day.
Messiah looked to be in control with a 2-1 lead after doubles. The Crusaders, easily within striking distance, would not let the Falcons keep control for long.
Herrold, playing now at number six singles with the absence of Harpold, came in suprised everyone by winning her singles match 6-3, 6-3.
The other Messiah player to be bumped up from their usual spot was
Michelle Curtis at number five singles. Curtis battled and very easily could have won if a few shots went her way, but the Crusaders' Kellie O'Donnell nudged out Curtis 6-4, 7-6.
Kitlan, remaining at number four singles, faced Alvernia's Laura Ehnes and could not get into her normal grove of powerful and precise groundstrokes mixed with aggressive net play. Ehnes kept Kitlan off balance and moved her all around the court and eventually took a straight set victory 6-2, 6-3.
With the match now tied 3-3 Messiah needed to take two of the top three singles matches to walk away with their first Commonwealth win.
At the highest singles spot
Erin Ipsen's consistent play kept her in the first set, but she eventually lost 6-3. Ipsen could not sway the energy to her favor and fell in the second set 6-0.
Junior
Katelyn Clark came through in a big way for Messiah at number three singles. Clark relied on her bread and butter forehand to take down Jennifer Innamorato in the first set 6-4. Using the first set momentum Clark ran away with a 6-4 second set decision to tie the match back up.
The finals singles match between Messiah's
Sarah Brookhart and Alvernia's Kayla Morgan. Brookhart and Morgan traded point after point and game after game in the first set. Neither player could run away with a lead and neither player allowed themselves to fall to far behind.
Everyone could tell the first set was going to come down to one or two extremely important points. And it did.
With the score tied 6-6 both players prepared for the tiebreaker.
Again, back and forth play resulted in a close tiebreak. In the end, Morgan hit the right shots, and Brookhart missed the shots she needed and the first set went to the Crusaders 7-6(8-6).
Brookhart could not rebound from the tough first set loss and dropped the second set 6-2.
With the loss Messiah moved to 0-2 in the conference and 4-6 overall.
The Falcons will look to get back on track as they face Misericordia University on Thursday April 12th at 4:00 p.m. on Criste Courts in Grantham.
