Warhawk tennis finished its season in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a semifinal loss to South Alabama.
The 15-7 record marks an improvement over last years 8-10 record.
Head coach Terrence De Jongh said that he was pleased with the way his team played this year.
“We were match point away to getting in the finals, and couldn’t close it. South Alabama got by us,” he said.
The team advanced past Georgia Southern in the first round, 4-1. That set up a meeting with the No. One seed South Alabama.
The match began with the Warhawks taking a 1-0 lead after Petra Horakova defeated the Jaguars’ Monica Mitta 6-3, 6-0. Senior Sophie Rufyikiri followed that up with a win of her own over Cinta Maria Papke 6-3, 6-2.
The score then stood at 2-0 in favor of the Warhawks.
South Alabama began its comeback with a Laura Valkova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over ULM’s Amy Olivier. Laura Matuskova followed that with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Letha Gaigher to lock the match at 2-2.
The Warhawks respond by way of a Jana Duhanova 6-3, 6-0 victory over Mary Angela Martin.
Caitlin Herb was unable to put South Alabama away, falling 6-7, 7-5, 6-4.
Weather forced the doubles match to be moved to the next day.
South Alabama easily put away the Warhawks with a 6-1 and a 6-2 match.
Rufyikiri said that she felt this year was a success despite the loss. She noted that it was big for the team to make it past the quarterfinals. She said she was thankful for the team and coaches around her.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better team to share it with,” she said.
De Jongh also noted the team’s age. He said that the team is young and that this season was a good step forward.
The Warhawks will only lose Rufykiri.
Three of the five on the team are freshmen with Petra Horakova being the only exception. Horakova is currently a junior.
There’s a sporting event bigger than the Super Bowl. Madness you say? Yeah, March Madness.
I know what you’re going to say. You’ll point to the stats that prove that the Super Bowl is the more watched event. You’ll say that 114.4 million people can’t be wrong. They can be and they are.
I, as one of those 114.4 million people, accept the Super Bowl as the pinnacle of sports. There’s no singular game that is bigger.
However, March Madness includes more than sixty games that compete for America’s love. Those games, they reach more than 180 million people.
Think about it. The Super Bowl features two teams.
Last year, they were New England and Seattle. Two cities on complete opposite sides of the country. If we disregard the bandwagoners, which we should, only two cities really have a dog in the fight.
In the NCAA tournament, which consists of 68 teams, there are seven cities that have a dog in the fight—and 59 other cities that have a cat, humanoid or some other type of mascot.
The NBA and MLB playoffs are about determining what team is the best.
The NCAA Tournament is about madness. Just the way it should be.
There’s a sporting event bigger than the Super Bowl. Madness you say? Yeah, March Madness.
I know what you’re going to say. You’ll point to the stats that prove that the Super Bowl is the more watched event. You’ll say that 114.4 million people can’t be wrong. They can be and they are.
I, as one of those 114.4 million people, accept the Super Bowl as the pinnacle of sports. There’s no singular game that is bigger.
However, March Madness includes more than sixty games that compete for America’s love. Those games, they reach more than 180 million people.
Think about it. The Super Bowl features two teams.
Last year, they were New England and Seattle. Two cities on complete opposite sides of the country. If we disregard the bandwagoners, which we should, only two cities really have a dog in the fight.
In the NCAA tournament, which consists of 68 teams, there are seven cities that have a dog in the fight—and 59 other cities that have a cat, humanoid or some other type of mascot.
The NBA and MLB playoffs are about determining what team is the best.
The NCAA Tournament is about madness. Just the way it should be.
There’s a sporting event bigger than the Super Bowl. Madness you say? Yeah, March Madness.
I know what you’re going to say. You’ll point to the stats that prove that the Super Bowl is the more watched event. You’ll say that 114.4 million people can’t be wrong. They can be and they are.
I, as one of those 114.4 million people, accept the Super Bowl as the pinnacle of sports. There’s no singular game that is bigger.
However, March Madness includes more than sixty games that compete for America’s love. Those games, they reach more than 180 million people.
Think about it. The Super Bowl features two teams.
Last year, they were New England and Seattle. Two cities on complete opposite sides of the country. If we disregard the bandwagoners, which we should, only two cities really have a dog in the fight.
In the NCAA tournament, which consists of 68 teams, there are seven cities that have a dog in the fight—and 59 other cities that have a cat, humanoid or some other type of mascot.
The NBA and MLB playoffs are about determining what team is the best.
The NCAA Tournament is about madness. Just the way it should be.
