OMAHA, Neb. – The Western Illinois Men's and Women's Tennis teams each fell to Creighton in dual-matches at Hanscom Indoor Tennis Center on Saturday, Jan. 29.
The Fighting Leatherneck Men (2-1) dropped their first match of the year by a 6-1 score to the Bluejays (1-0) while the Leatherneck Women (1-2) lost to Creighton (1-0) by a score of 7-0.
Francisco Ortiz picked up Western's lone win in singles play by staging a comeback after a first set loss. Ortiz defeaed Gabe Nagy at the No. 5 spot (5-7, 7-6, 11-9) to improve to 3-0 in singles play on the season.
"Francisco elevated his game by attacking the net and forcing his opponent to hit a lot of passing shots," said head coach Chris Kane. "His opponent hit a number of them, but it's hard for an opponent to do that for an entire match. That strategy paid off in the end as he won a very close third-set tiebreaker."
Jeff Cote won his first set at the No. 1 spot before eventually falling to Creighton's Billy Paluch (3-6, 6-4, 10-7) while Patrick Hammers was defeated in straight sets at the No. 2 position (6-1, 6-0).
Alejandro Buceta dropped his match to Kyle Obermeier at the No. 3 spot (6-2, 6-3) while Mandela Shepard lost to Brian Lube in the No. 4 position (6-3, 6-4).
Jim Capalbo showed promise in the first set of his No. 6 matchuo with Ryan Norman, but eventually was defeated (7-6, 6-1).
In doubles play, the team of Cote/Hammers lost to Paluch/J.T. Christian (8-3) at the No. 1 position while the teams of Ortiz/Shepard and Buceta/Ben Yue fell at the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively.
"We played ok against Creighton, but we needed to play outstanding tennis to win," said Kane. "Creighton has outstanding talent, and a lot of balance throughout their lineup.
On the women's side, Marcela Brandao dropped her match at the No. 1 spot (6-1, 6-1) while Juill Furlong fell at the No. 2 position (6-2, 6-2).
Amy Unzicker fared slightly better at the No. 3 position but was eventually defeated in straight sets (6-4, 6-1). Claire Griffin was downed by Lauren Mastro at the No. 4 spot (6-0, 6-2) while Melissa Kaufmann (6-0, 6-1) and Madison Zimmerman (6-0, 6-0) fell in straight sets at No. 5 and 6.
"Creighton has a team composed of players who hit a lot of topspin so as to control their groundstrokes very well," said Kane. "They were too consistent for us. This was the first match where, with the exception of Amy, we seemed to spray the ball around and show little patience. Amy competed exceptionally."
In women's doubles the team of Brandao/Furlong was defeated by the team of Anna Kirsehnbaum/Analese Snyder in the No. 1 position (8-2). Western's team of Unzicker/Griffin fell at the No. 2 spot (8-2) while the team of Kaufmann/Kara Chicoine lost in the No. 3 position (8-1).
"We will have to emphasize improving holding our serves better in doubles," said Kane. "Our doubles teams have to become more active at the net if we are to hold our serves more and thereby improve our results.
The Leatherneck Women will return to action this coming weekend with matches against South Dakota (Feb. 5) and UNI (Feb. 6). Both matches will take place in Waterloo, Iowa.
The Western Illinois Men's team will take the week off before heading north to DeKalb for matches against Northern Illinois (Feb. 11) and Green Bay 9Feb. 12)
