The men’s and women’s tennis teams both found victory in recent matches, as the women defeated Murray State 4-2 at home on Sunday, Feb. 24, before the men beat Belmont 6-0 on the same day.
For the women’s team, the victory over Murray State marked the first of this season. The team persevered and found a way to win in many tightly-contested matches, starting with doubles.
“Today’s win was a total team effort,” Director of Tennis Matt Emery said. “We talked a lot this week about treating each point the same, from the first point to the last one, and they did a tremendous job of that today.”
The freshman duo of Juliana Castellanos and Kendall Nash initially fell behind to Murray State before coming back to win the set 6-4.
Lone senior Jessica Cantrell was involved in an even closer match, teaming up with sophomore Brenna Reilly to edge their opponents 7-6 and ending the third doubles match, which was tied at 5-5.
After earning the doubles point, KSU dropped the first singles match before junior Aspen Jarrett won 6-2, 6-2 to put the Owls up 2-1 overall.
The next two matches featured last-set tiebreakers, as Nash won 6-2, 7-6 before junior Elle Baker lost 7-5, 7-6. Freshman Lara Mehlsam clinched the victory for KSU with a three-set win.
Later that day, the men’s team took the courts and defeated Belmont.
The Owls fell behind after losing the first doubles match but came back to win both of the final doubles matches 7-6 each.
After earning the doubles point, KSU won all singles matches to record its first win in three weeks.
All players were able to finish their matches in straight sets, including senior leaders Fermin Calvo Barcelo and Lucas de Torres Curth.
Both teams played Austin Peay on Saturday, March 2, with the men winning 4-0 after the women lost by that score.
The women’s team could not continue the momentum from its victory the previous week, dropping all matches to the Governors.
Both Nash and Cantrell pushed their matches to three sets, but the other matches resulting in KSU losses finished the day for the Owls before those two players could finish.
After the men’s team lost to Georgia State on Friday, the Owls turned around to defeat Austin Peay the next day.
This time, the men’s team immediately won its doubles matches and once again did not lose a single match.
“The guys did a good job of taking care of business today after a late, physical match last night and a quick turnaround,” Emery said.
Next up, the men’s team plans to travel to Chattanooga to play the Mocs on Wednesday, March 4, while the women’s team will host Cleveland State on Wednesday, March 13.
