University of Missouri
Nebraska
67th-ranked Huskers Take Down Tigers, 5-2
4/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
April 11, 2008
Lincoln, Neb. - The Nebraska Cornhuskers (15-4/4-4 Big 12) defeated the University of Missouri women's tennis team (9-11/1-7 Big 12), 5-2, Friday in Lincoln, Neb.
The Tigers started the match with a 1-0, lead after winning the doubles point. Chrissy Svetlic and Mallory Weber won at No. 2, and Jessica Giuggioli and Kaitlyn Ritchie won at No. 3, to get the match off to a good start.
Mizzou and Nebraska then moved into singles action, where the Tigers appeared to have a chance to pull out the match victory before the Huskers came back in a few matches, winning five of the six contests.
"We need to do a better job of closing out our matches," Tiger Head Coach Blake Starkey said. "We had a lot of opportunities, it was a winnable match, we just need to finish things off."
Mizzou's only singles win came at No. 6, as junior Sofia Ayala defeated Maria Ring, 6-1, 7-5. The win is Ayala's eighth of the spring and 14th overall since coming to Mizzou from the University of Alabama before the fall. She has won three of her last four Big 12 matches in straight sets. Last Saturday (April 5) she beat Texas A&M's Stephanie Davidson, and she beat Baylor's Natalie Holmes on March 30th.
Ayala was not the only Tiger who got off to a good start in their singles matches.
Weber won her first set for the second straight time Friday, and also for the second straight time, fell in the second and third sets to lose the match to Nebraska's Imke Reimers at No. 1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Giuggioli jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the first set of her match against Wiveca Swarting at No. 2 singles, before Swarting fought back, winning the set 7-6, after taking a 7-4 win in the set tiebreaker. Swarting took a 6-4 win in the second set to win the match.
Svetlic also got out to a 5-3 lead in her singles match, before Nebraska's Jana Albers came back to take the set, 7-5. Albers also won the second set, winning the No. 3 singles match, 7-5, 6-3.
Mizzou freshmen Maureen Modesto and Ritchie fell in straight sets at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
The Tigers will now head east to Ames, Iowa, to face the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday at 3:30.
Nebraska 5, Missouri 2
Doubles (order of finish: 2-3-1)
No. 1 Albers/Reimers (NU) def. Ayala/Dunham (MU), 8-4
No. 2 Svetlic/Weber (MU) def. Ring/Swarting (NU), 8-2
No. 3 Giuggioli/Ritchie (MU) def. Chandronnait/Evans (NU), 8-3
Singles (order of finish: 4-5-6-1-3-2)
No. 1 Imke Reimers (NU) def. Mallory Weber (MU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Wiveca Swarting (NU) def. Jessica Giuggioli (MU), 7-6 (4), 6-4
No. 3 Jana Albers (NU) def. Chrissy Svetlic (MU), 7-5, 6-3
No. 4 Stephanie Evans (NU) def. Maureen Modesto (MU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 Amber Chandronnait (NU) def. Kaitlyn Ritchie (MU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Sofia Ayala (MU) def. Maria Ring (NU), 6-1, 7-5
Players Mentioned
