The Ashland University men and women’s tennis teams found a huge weekend of play as they competed in two matches on Saturday, March 29 to Sunday, March 30 in Great Midwest Conference home matches.
On day one, both teams took on the Thomas More Saints where Director of Tennis Operations, Eric Gibson, found both teams encouraged their teammates in different ways.
“[The men] were loud and cheering from the start of doubles and until the end of singles,” Gibson said. “The women showed a lot of heart and determination.”
The men defeated the Saints in a 4-0 decision.
The men swept the Saints in singles with sophomore Batsomi Marobela earning first. Trailing behind him was junior Tomas Paskaukas finding number two and sophomore Ryohei Miyake finding number three.
The men would also find themselves sweeping in doubles with Marobela and Paskaukas leading in number one. Trailing behind them were the pairings of junior Reid Opel and Miyake in number two and freshman Bernardo Duarte and junior Gabriel Seminario in number three.
Gibson found the men had a great team win and proved themselves to be the better team.
On the women’s side, they found a loss of 0-4.
The Saints swept the women in singles matches; however, the women found an impressive second place finish in doubles.
Sophomore Luciana Ottoni and freshman Roberta Duran defeated the Saints in their doubles match, good enough for a number two finish.
Despite the match not going their way on the scorecard, Gibson found that it was a “a gritty and tough match, where the women’s team showed great fighting spirit.”
The Eagles would conclude their weekend of play on Sunday taking on the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers.
The men found a win of 6-1. Gibson finding they “came out of the gates firing on all cylinders.”
Dominating singles was Miyake finding a number one finish. Trailing behind him was sophomore Kaj Salzano finding a number three finish, Duarte finding a number four finish, Opel finding a number five finish and Seminario finding a number six finish.
The Eagles proceeded to sweep in doubles matches coming in first, second and third respectively: Marobela and Paskaukas, Miyake and Opel and Duarte and Seminario.
“All 3 doubles teams swept, and Ryohei rolled at 1st singles,” Gibson said. “Amazing team effort today.”
The women would find their first and final win of the weekend sweeping 7-0.
“The women surrendered only a few games and proved to be a very strong team today,” Gibson said.
The women swept singles matches coming in numbers first through sixth respectively: juniors Ana Penteado, Constanza Arancibia, freshman Maria Jemio, junior Anna Corbel, sophomore Brittany Witsken and sophomore Evie Pryor.
The Eagles then proceeded to find great play in doubles games.
“Doubles was a highlight, with Ana & Coni prevailing 6-1 at 1st and Brittany & Maria winning in shutout fashion 6-0 at 2nd,” Gibson said.
Penteado and Arancibia led the charge for the Eagles coming in number one. Trailing behind them were Witsken and Jemio coming in second and Corbel and Pryor coming in third.
The women now move to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play while the women move to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
The Eagles will next travel to Walsh University on Saturday, April 5 beginning at 2 p.m.
“Coach Eric and I will keep doing our best to help them succeed and accomplish the expectations that we set on the team,” Graduate Assistant Tennis Coach Fabian Torres said.
