SAINT GEORGE, UT-The Dixie State College women’s tennis team lost a close match 4-5 to Southern Utah University on Wednesday afternoon at the Green Valley Spa.
SAINT GEORGE, UT-The Dixie State College women’s tennis team lost a close match 4-5 to Southern Utah University on Wednesday afternoon at the Green Valley Spa.
In the four years since the transition from a junior to college to an NCAA D2 school, the Red Storm had only scored one point in seven matches. Today’s match for DSC was more a little more successful and just missed an upset of the Division I school.
In the singles competition the two squads split with the Red Storm winning #3 singles Ashley Lafeen 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 over Kirrily Burden. In #5 singles Courtney Kezerian defeated Kristi Latteier 6-3 and 6-0. The Red Storm picked up their final win by Lauren Tarver defeating Sarah Alamshaw 7-5, 2-1 (retired) in #6 singles.
Coach Eric Pelton said, "We pulled out one of the doubles and three singles matches. We had some chances in the other matches and were not able to capitalize on them. We are getting more experienced, improving, and getting stronger with every match.”
The pair of Tarver/Adrienne Davis defeated Latteier/Alamshaw in #3 doubles 8-6. The near miss for the Red Storm came in #1 doubles when the Thunderbirds Ksusha Nazarova/Olga Tatarchenko defeated Alicia Holm/Courtney Kezerian 8-6.
Coach Pelton continued by saying, "it was a hard fought match and the girls really came out strong and played extremely well."
Dixie State and Southern Utah will play again in on April 9th. Until then, the Red Storm play host this weekend to Academy of Art on Friday and Mesa State College on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to be played at the Green Valley Spa.