[Tennis] Men's Tennis wins third straight in 8-1 win over Sterling, Women tripped up 8-1
Mario Rincon (SR/Bogota, Colombia) and his Kansas Wesleyan tennis teammates didn't have much time to celebrate their victory.
Rincon outlasted Sterling's Drew Wright 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the No. 1 singles match. It was Rincon's second victory of the day after he and Michael Moody (SR/Midwest City, Okla.) combined for an 8-2 victory over Wright and Kyler Comley in the No. 1 doubles contest.
Rincon's conquests were part of the Coyotes' 8-1 team victory over the Warriors in the Kansas Conference dual on Saturday at Salina Central High School. The KWU women lost to Sterling 5-1.
"I felt it was a good result for me, but I just want to keep grinding with my friends," said Rincon, a senior from Bogota, Colombia. "(Sunday) we have a huge match against Ottawa, so we're looking forward to winning that match."
The Coyotes improved to 3-1 in KCAC with the victory and moved into a tie for second with Bethany. Ottawa and No. 19-ranked McPherson were 2-1 in the conference and played Saturday in Ottawa – the winner gaining a share of second with the Coyotes and Swedes.
Rincon improved to 7-4 on the season with his fifth consecutive singles victory. He's 4-3 in doubles play and has won three in a row with Moody as his partner.
Saturday's singles win wasn't easy, though.
"It was a tough match, the guy was playing really good," Rincon said of Wright. "The conditions were not good at all, it was kind of windy. But at the end I found a way to pull through.
"I was able to play to (Wright's) backhand. Since he was a lefty I was able to hit the ball crosscourt a lot and I was hitting a lot of first serves. My returns were a little bit off, he was serving well. That's something I need to work on for (Ottawa)."
Wesleyan coach Josh Molino was pleased with what transpired.
"We didn't want to take Sterling lightly," he said. "We knew they had a big match against Bethany (Friday) and came in and hit the ball really well.
"We're just looking forward to Ottawa and playing well. It's going to be a big match in the conference standings. We've played well and home and outside, we're just really going to try and execute and expect it to be a battle on every court. We need to be mentally tough and ready to go for four hours."
In other singles matches Moody defeated Comley 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2; Felix Diaz (JR/La Guaira, Venezuela) downed Kenan Comley 6-2, 7-6 (2) at No. 3; Luis Soto (JR/Santo Domingo, Dominican Repub) defeated Mauricio Ayala 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4; and Shingi Chingaya (SO/Wylie, Texas) cruised past Trinity Parriman 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6. Luckian Campos (SR/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) lost the No. 5 match to Blake Gladson 5-7, 7-5, 10-4.
Diaz and Soto were victorious at No. 2 doubles 8-0 over Ayla and Kenan Comley, and Rodrigo Vera (SO/Lima, Peru) and Kyle Rice (SO/Topeka, Kan.) teamed for an 8-1 victory over Gladson and Parriman at No. 3.
"We started off (the season) with some Division II teams and that was rough, we got beat up pretty good," Molino said. "But I think the positive was we played some big hitters and tough competition. Now we're in a good part of our schedule and we're confident.
"Football says it best, 'Win the day, 1-0.' We've been preaching that to our guys and girls. We look forward to (Sunday) and try to go 1-0."
In the women's dual, KWU's No. 1 doubles team of Paola Vargas (SO/Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and Zofia Selwesiuk (FR/Wroclaw, Poland) defeated Janae Ryan and Keeley Hipp 8-5. The No. 2 team of Jessica Smith (SO/Salina, Kan.) and Brianna Mendoza (SO/Balch Springs, Texas) lost to Sterling's Nicole Marin and Maddie Thrasher 9-7.
In singles competition, Vargas had a 3-1 lead in the No. 1 match against Janae Ryan, but was forced to retire after suffering a leg injury. Thrasher defeated Selwesiuk 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 2 match; Hipp downed Mendoza 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3; and Marin topped Smith 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4.
"I'm proud of our ladies, they've competed all year long," Molino said.