Men's Results |
Women's ResultsGrantham, PA - Messiah men's tennis moved atop the Commonwealth Conference today with a 7-2 win over Alvernia University, while the women also defeated the Crusaders with an 8-1 score and improved to 3-2 in the conference. The men remain unbeaten this season in the conference with the win and for the second match in a row have defeated an opponent with a previously undefeated conference record.
The women picked up big wins from three matches that went into a tiebreak, including the No. 1 doubles match.
Eileen Barker and
Sydney Schandel won their singles matches while their opponents forced tiebreaks. Barker won her first set 7-5 and dropped the second 6-4, but came back to win the third-set tiebreak 10-6.
Schandel was forced to an 11-9 tiebreak win in the first set (7-6) and then blew away O'Donnell in the second set 6-1.
Jennifer Kitlan and
Britney Hickey won both of their matches in straight sets with 6-1 scores in all four.
Ashli Livermore also won handily over her opponent, going 6-2 and 6-0 from the No. 2 spot.
The No. 2 and 3 doubles teams breezed by for 8-1 wins but
Erin Ipsen and
Eileen Barker were given a run for their money in the No. 1 doubles. Julie Seidel and O'Donnell pushed the match into an 8-8 tiebreak but the Falcons took a 7-4 win in the tiebreak.
The Messiah men took victories in the No. 2-6 singles matches without any drama, but
Michael Brookhart fell to Dennis Sult with scores of 6-4 and 6-1. Sult forced Brookhart to miss on tough shots because of the power Sult put behind the ball.
David Wichert won an impressive match against Dan Minnich, winning 6-2 and 6-3 after being previously beaten by Minnich by similar scores the last time they played.
Peter Shuck and
Zachary Brunner won their doubles match with a healthy 8-3 advantage but
Dustin Innerst and
Michael Kovacs had to work for their win. The first-year duo was pushed to an extra game but won it in the end 9-7.
Messiah clinched the No. 1 spot in the conference playoffs with the win but will have to face 3rd place Lebanon Valley this Saturday, Apr. 26, before they can begin the conference tournament. The women will also face Lebanon Valley this Saturday, who are currently in 2nd place overall.
