Seattle University’s tennis teams didn’t fare well over the weekend and dropped both the men’s and women’s matches versus UTRGV and Grand Canyon, respectively. The women avoided a shutout, but dropped their match to Grand Canyon 6-1, while the men won both doubles matches, but walked away with a 5-2 loss to UTRGV.
The women’s team won their final singles match thanks to senior Kristen James, however, Grand Canyon came out hot and had already swept the doubles matches as well as the opening singles matches. James’ win helped
the team avoid a shutout, but was too little to overcome the sweltering start put on by Grand Canyon.
“Grand Canyon was too tough today,” said head coach Adam Reeb. “They came out strong and kept it up throughout the match. We started a little slow and unfortunately couldn’t come back… This is a really balanced conference and we know that, if we just execute a little better, we’ll be right in the mix. The girls have some much needed days off and then we’ll get ready for the next WAC cluster in Chicago.”
The men’s team picked up a doubles point, but were only able to win one of five singles points and thus fell to UTRGV. Senior Ian Clare and freshman Michael Schoettler won the first doubles match, while juniors John Stormans and Connor Leahy would earn a close 7-6 victory and give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead going into singles. Sophomore Matt Alderson won Seattle U’s only singles matchup; however, his effort would fail to give the Redhawks the boost they would wind up needing to beat UTRGV, who won the remainder of the singles points and later the match.
“It was a tight battle today vs. UTRGV,” Reeb said. “We got the doubles point again playing smart, aggressive tennis. Our doubles has been very good lately which is vital for us. We fought hard in singles but just couldn’t find three points out there. I’m proud of the guys the way they competed. They compete hard and with class and are great representatives of SU. We’ve got two weeks of practice outdoors now to get ready for Kansas City.”
The women’s team will face Cal State Fullerton on March 30 at Seattle U, meaning that they will have over a week off from competition before their next match. The men’s team will face Grand Canyon and Chicago State in Kansas City in two weeks to close regular season play, before coming home to Seattle for Senior Day on April 23.
Will may be reached at [email protected]
