The men’s tennis team started spring break on a good note as it trampled Friends University in a flawless 9-0 victory March 13.
“The guys did great, they won 9-0,” head coach Bruce Anderson said. “They really were never in any trouble in any of the matches, although, Friends was better than we expected them to be.”
With the freedom of spring break just hours away, the men kept their focus and walked away adding another win to this season’s record.
“They went down to win, they took care of business and that was that,” Anderson said. “Friends was a tough team, and a lot of those matches were very close, but the bottom line is our guys didn’t go down there to lose.”
The No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Bozo Zaputovic and senior Hunter Hollarn remains undefeated for the spring season and the No. 3 doubles team of freshman Drew Richter and junior Stephen Donly grabbed its first win of the season.
Zaputovic and Hollarn also won their individual matches, 8-4 and 8-5 respectively, as the No. 1 and No. 2 players.
The sweep of Friends gave Baker its second win of the early season, putting its record at 2-1 heading into the match against Johnson County Community College.
“The new reconstituted three doubles got their first win and it was an important win,” Anderson said. “It was an important win all the way around.”
On the other side, the women’s team continued to struggle as it suffered another loss.
The women fought hard but couldn’t grab the win in the end as they fell 5-2 to Friends University.
“It went pretty well for the most part,” sophomore Allie Stephens said. “I just think we could have played a lot better than what we did.”
Sophomore Breezy Mangan was back in action after she re-injured her knee earlier this season, but didn’t see the results she was hoping for.
“I didn’t do very good individually because I hadn’t practiced all week because of my knee, so I was really rusty,” Mangan said.
Mangan had surgery to fix a torn meniscus during winter break, but has another possible tear in the cartilage.
“They said that they can see where it is torn, but it might just be changes from my first surgery to my knee,” Mangan said. “So they gave me a brace to wear and if it keeps hurting, then they are going to go in and do surgery again.”
The women didn’t let anything get them down this week.
<br/>Despite a long rest over spring break, the 'Cats pulled out a 5-4 win Wednesday against JCCC. Despite a long rest over spring break, the 'Cats pulled out a 5-4 win Wednesday against JCCC. <br/>Junior Jen Ackerly said everything came together perfectly for the team.Junior Jen Ackerly said everything came together perfectly for the team.
Despite a long rest over spring break, the ‘Cats pulled out a 5-4 win Wednesday against JCCC.
Junior Jen Ackerly said everything came together perfectly for the team.
“Overall, it went extremely well,” she said. “Everyone played really well, and I think we just really went out there and had fun. We just played our best.”
After a short slump on the women’s side, the win against JCCC gave the team a boost of confidence.
“A lot of our matches have been close,” Ackerly said. “When we lose it’s like by one or two, so I mean it was just nice to pull this one out and just get another win under our belt.”
The men’s team took a hard hit against JCCC. The team fell 9-0, Wednesday, taking its overall record to 2-2.
Both teams will have the home court advantage as they move on to face the University of Illinois at 2 p.m. Saturday in Baldwin City.
The Prairie Stars are 5-1 in dual play this season heading into their matchup with the Wildcats.
