MU tennis drops the ball on close matches
Hard fought losses result in Colorado win.
Published April 14, 2009
The Tigers women's tennis team dropped another close match Saturday when it lost 4-3 at home to the Colorado Buffaloes. In what has already happened several times at the Green Tennis Center this season, the Tigers narrowly dropped the doubles point, giving the Buffaloes an early 1-0 advantage and setting an undesired tone for the rest of the match.
With two doubles matches already finished, a win by the No. 3 team of senior Sofia Ayala and freshman Danielle Day and a loss by the No. 1 team of sophomore Mallory Weber and freshman Jamie Mera, the No. 2 team of senior Jessica Giuggioli and sophomore Kaitlyn Ritchie lost a tiebreaker to give the match, doubles point and lead to Colorado.
Ritchie and Giuggioli had a 7-3 game lead on the Buffaloes before Colorado won the next five games. The Tigers No. 2 doubles team forced the tiebreak with a win in the 16th game of the match, but dropped the tiebreak 7-5.
Ayala and Day won yet another doubles match, adding to their success as a team.
"We feed off each other's energy," Day said of their teamwork. "And that makes it fun."
The Tigers would not improve upon the deficit in the early going of singles play. Missouri's top three singles players lost their matches. Mera, newly inserted as the team's No. 1 singles player, easily won the first set of her match against Colorado junior Camila Belassi 6-2, but dropped the next two sets 6-2 and 6-4.
"The other girl started playing better," Mera said after her match. "I started playing really well, and it's hard to keep up that high level. It came down to a couple shots here and there."
Giuggioli and Weber, Missouri's No. 2 and 3 singles players, respectively, both lost their matches in two sets.
Down 4-0 after the first four points, the Tigers made it close by winning the final three singles matches of the afternoon. Day won a marathon match as the No. 4 singles player. Her match with Buffalo senior Franziska Jendrian was the day's longest. After the two players split the first two sets, Day won the third and final set 6-4.
Ritchie and Ayala were the other singles winners for the Tigers. Ritchie won her match on forfeit because of injury, but was playing well. She won the first set 6-3 before her opponent went down with the injury that prevented her from continuing.
The Tigers watched their record go to 6-10 for the season and 3-6 in Big 12 play. Saturday's defeat was the fifth straight for coach Blake Starkey's team.
"I'm tired of close," Starkey said. "I want to win these. This is a learning process. I know we're getting better. We need to get back to learning how to finish people off."
Starkey's team will have a chance to do just that when they host the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Friday.