March 23, 2007
Box Score
CANTON, Ga. - Despite playing strong at times, Kennesaw State fell to Lipscomb, 5-2, this afternoon at the BridgeMill Tennis Center.
The Owls (1-14, 0-7 A-Sun) began the match well and started off strong at No. 1 doubles with Mercedes Cobos and Giselle Nakakura knocking off Raphaela Jann and Erin Moakler in an overpowering, 8-1, victory. However, Lipscomb (5-9, 1-4 A-Sun) came back and took both remaining doubles matches to claim the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead.
"I'm disappointed in the overall effort today, especially at doubles," said head coach Brandon Padgett. " We work on it [doubles] so much in practice that it is hard to understand why we played so poorly as a group. Mercedes and Giselle continued to play strong doubles however, and I'm proud of their effort."
In singles, Kennesaw State had a chance at four matches, but could only come away with a pair of victories. Cobos was a victor at No. 1 singles when Jann retired in the second set.
Jeni Thomas pulled out a three-set win with a 6-4 final set win over Olivia Ellis. Thomas and Ellis split the first two sets by 7-5 scores with Thomas taking the first set.
"Jeni Thomas was in a back and forth match all day and was able to pull it out," added Padgett. "Which was a great win for her."
Karen Ammann lost in an exciting three-set match at No. 3 singles while Nakakura won the first set of her singles match, 6-0, but Moakler came back to take the final two sets.
"In singles, we had a bit of a meltdown mentally in a couple of the matches today," said Padgett. " I felt like the effort was certainly there, but we have to get stronger mentally so we can close matches out when the opportunity presents itself, like it did today."
The Owls will play Stetson on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. at the BridgeMill Tennis Center.
Lipscomb 5, Kennesaw State 2
Doubles
No. 1 Cobos/Nakakura (KSU) d. Jann/Moakler (LU) 8-1
No. 2 E. Ellis/O. Ellis (LU) d. Ammann/Thomas (KSU) 8-2
No. 3 Khovri/Hall (LU) d. Page/Whalen (KSU) 8-3
Singles
No. 1 Mercedes Cobos (KSU) d. Raphaela Jann (LU) 6-7, 1-0 ret.
No. 2 Erin Moakler(LU) d. Giselle Nakakura (KSU) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 Emily Ellis (LU) d. Karen Ammann (KSU) 5-7, 7-5, (10-2)
No. 4 Jeni Thomas (KSU) d. Olivia Ellis (LU) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
No. 5 Casey Hall (LU) d. Caroline Page (KSU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 Caitlin Khovri (LU) d. Lindsey Whalen (KSU) 6-1, 6-1
Exhibition Morgan Wolkin (KSU) d. Stephanie Vannatta (LU) 8-5
Exhibition Morgan Wolkin (KSU) d. Lydia Sisson (LU) 8-3
