Women face stiff competition in Kearney

The North Central ITA regional tournament has historically been a tough place to play for CSU-Pueblo tennis teams, no matter where it’s been hosted.  This fall, both men’s and women’s tournaments are being held in Kearney, Neb., and on Friday, the women found out what the rest of the region is like, tennis-wise.

The ITA tournament can be a mixed bag for a tennis player, mostly because players are split up and thrown into a large draw, so it’s possible for a lower-ranked singles player to face off against a top-ranked opponent.  Still, the tournament always holds great promise for teams looking to find out how they stack up.

Unfortunately, the CSU-Pueblo women did not have the best of results on day one of the tournament.  Only one singles player advanced in the main draw, and the other five players are now residing in the consolation draw.

Julie Wainwright (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) won her first round match again Nickola Messbarger of the University of Nebraska-Kearney and will play again tomorrow in the main draw.  The rest of the squad, however, ended up in consolation after losing their first round matches.

Morgan Forsyth (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) won her first consolation match and will play again tomorrow, but most of her teammates will play their first consolation matches tomorrow.

Wainwright, for one, is looking forward to Saturday’s matches.  “The level of competition here in pretty high, and it’s a little different than what we usually see,” she said.  “I definitely want to try to keep going in the main draw.”

Cindy Boughton (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.), one of the Pack’s singles players who will play a consolation match tomorrow, said that the tournament is good experience because many of the players on the team are still adapting to college tennis and figuring out how to play.

The team will see how it fares in the consolation bracket of both singles and doubles play tomorrow when action resumes at 8:30 a.m.

Match Results

Main Draw: Singles

Val Boughton lost to Heather Jensen (MSU-Mankato): 3-6, 4-6

Tiffany Talmadge lost to Cailey Groupe (Southwest MSU): 2-6, 4-6

Cindy Boughton lost to April Hirad (Metro State): 1-6, 0-6

Julie Wainwright def. Nickola Messbarger (UNK): 6-0, 6-1

Meagan Clark lost to Sarah Nadigan (MSU-Mankato): 1-6, 1-6

Morgan Forsyth lost to Rene Demianew (Mesa State): 3-6, 4-6

Consolation: Singles

Talmadge lost to Kathleen Thompson (Metro State): 3-8

Forsyth def. Melissa Lyster (UNK): 1-8

Doubles

Forsyth-Wainwright lost to Sera-Sera: 7-9

Boughton-Boughton def. Jensen-Ohmann: 8-5

Boughton-Boughton (2nd round) lost to Cox-Huisman: 4-8

Clark-Talmadge lost to Messbarger-Strydom: 0-8