Women struggle on tennis court

Written by Enrico Dominguez
(edoming@mscd.edu)
Photo by Daniel Clements
(dcleme12@mscd.edu)

The Metro women’s tennis team lost 7-2 against Colorado College Feb. 22 at the Auraria Courts, dropping their record to 0-2 for the spring season, 3-3 overall.

Sophomores Alexis Alvarez and Kathleen Thompson won at No. 3 doubles 8-4. Alvarez also won her singles match 6-4 and 6-0. Senior Mirian Evangelista lost at No. 4 singles 6-4 and 6-2.

“Miriam Evangelista, although losing at (No.) 4 singles, fought well and played very good tennis,” head coach Beck Meares said. “She should be proud of the way she played.”

Senior Mitra Hirad and sophomore Mandy Bowling started off with an impressive doubles match, winning by three games before falling to Kelsey Smith and Deanna Thirkell.

“We started off good,” Hirad said. “But when it was 5-2, we became very tentative to them, and couldn’t pull it off. It’s unfortunate because last year we almost beat these guys.”

After losing her singles match 6-2 and 6-3, junior April Hirad came off the court dissatisfied with the way she played.

“I could not put points together,” April Hirad said. “I’ll be up 40 love and I just can’t finish it. It’s not that we’re lacking work. We’re out here running and hitting balls, we’re just not playing like ourselves.”

The women’s next match is Mar. 1 against University of Wyoming at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

“After playing the way we did on Sunday, we have a lot more work to do on the practice court before our next match,” Meares said. “Hopefully the girls will have a good week on court and we will see improvement when we play University of Wyoming on Sunday.”

The men’s team came out with a 5-4 victory over Colorado College, making their record 2-2 overall.

Sophomore Angelo Faustino and junior Georgie Perez led the Roadrunners Feb. 22 with two victories. Both men won at No. 1 doubles 8-6, and Perez won at No. 2 singles in a tiebreaker 4-6, 6-2 and 6-3. Faustino swept Brian Thirkell at No. 3 singles 6-0 and 6-1.

The men will host Dallas Baptist in their next match Mar. 10 at Auraria Courts.