@UNCO_WTennis Stormed by Thunderbirds

Friday, March 30

Cedar City, Utah

11:00 a.m.

University of Northern Colorado

Southern Utah

3/30/2018 4:40:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: By: Marissa Baca

CEDAR CITY, Utah- The Bears fell 6-1 to Southern Utah in women's tennis Friday at Thunderbird Tennis Courts. The Thunderbirds swept doubles to take a 1-0 lead, setting the tone for the match. Later in singles, Southern Utah won matches at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6 put away the Bears.

"The team was competitive against a much improved Southern Utah team," said Bears head coach Brenda Gallegos. "We came out flat in doubles and we were unable to come back because the set is over so quickly. The loss of the doubles point carried over into some of the singles matches, but a few of the girls were able to then forget about it and turn their matches around."

Northern Colorado (4-9, 1-5 Big Sky) will play undefeated Northern Arizona (12-3, 7-0 Big Sky) next on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

SINGLES BREAKDOWN

No. 1, Raffa Mora - Although she came out with a game plan and good mindset, Mora had a slow start in her singles match. Mora played good points but struggled with being able to out rally her opponent in the first set. Mora found herself back behind the baseline while her opponent was approaching the net and putting away points, causing Raffa to lose the set 2-6.

Not giving up, she stuck to the same game plan in the second set and started to execute much better. She was stepping into the court and finally getting the edge in rallies by forcing her opponent to hit many backhands. Raffa held a lead in the second set and even went up 5-4, before her opponent stepped up her game and came back to win 7-5 in the second.

No. 2, Tristen Bryant-Otake - Bryant-Otake was another player who had a slow start in singles, and although she tried, could not catch up to her opponent. Throughout the match, Bryant-Otake had a hard time figuring out her opponent. She tried mixing it up and went with a few different approaches, but not much was working. Unfortunately, Zoe Tanti (SUU) played better today.

No. 3, Anna Battersby - Battersby came out on fire in the first set of her singles match today, going up 4-1 by outlasting her opponent in rallies and running down every ball to wear out her opponent. Eira Tobrand (SUU) began creeping back in and regained her composure to get the score to 4-3, but Battersby stayed calm and collected to finish the set 6-3.

After losing the first set, Battersby's opponent started using her height to her advantage and made her way into the net to finish points quicker. This time, Battersby found herself down in the second set 2-5, but kept fighting and eventually came back to 4-5, but lost a close deuce game to split sets with her opponent. Because the match was already decided, they played a 10-pt. tiebreaker to decide the match. Anna quickly went up 3-0 in the breaker, but in the end found herself on the defense and lost the breaker 5-10.

No. 4, Madeline Doherty - Doherty's transition from losing in doubles to playing in singles was not easy. She seemed to have carried the loss with her in her first set of singles and quickly lost 0-6. However, she got determined and decided to change her attitude for the second set. Making the rally's last longer and waiting for the right time to go for a winner, Doherty took advantage of her strong groundstrokes to win the set 6-2.

Playing a full third set, Madeline knew she would have to fight hard and long to do whatever it took to win. She persevered and played great to win a close third set, and get the only win for the Bears today.

No. 5, Sarina Chhabra - Adding to the theme of slow starts, Chhabra found herself needing to come from behind the entire match. Chhabra did have a game plan, and kept most balls to her opponent's weaker shot, the backhand, which helped her win points. Chhabra did a good job at trying to keep balls low when her opponent came to the net, but still could not win enough points to take the set. Finding her rhythm, Chhabra's second set had a better start and she kept her opponent on her toes. Even though Chhabra didn't give up, she was unable to beat her opponent today.

No. 6, Carrigan Blanchard - Blanchard was in control of many of the points throughout the match, but had a hard time closing out games when ahead. She was doing many things right to put herself in a good situations during points, but lacked in execution to finish. Blanchard's serve was working in her favor today to help set up easier points, and she did a good job staying up on the baseline. Although the match did not go her way, Blanchard showed good patience, and has been improving match by match.