Lakeland College

Muskies come up just short in pair of NAC women's tennis matches

Athletics - posted on 9/8/2012

KOHLER - The Lakeland College women's tennis team came oh-so-close to winning a pair of Northern Athletics Conference matches but instead came up with two near misses Saturday afternoon at the Sports Core.

The Muskies lost to Aurora (Ill.) University and Benedictine (Ill.) University both by match scores of 5-4. The two narrow losses dropped Lakeland to 2-4 overall this season and 1-4 in the NAC as the Muskies near the midway point of the conference season.

Lakeland got its wins in both matches from the same individuals and teams, winning both of its matches at No. 4 and No. 5 singles as well as at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. The nearest miss came at No. 3 doubles against Aurora, where Jenna Oberthaler (Jr.-Iron Mountain, Mich.) and Samantha Tonn (Fr.-Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) went down to the wire before losing 9-7 to Emily Kuntzi and Andrea Pacheco of Aurora.

The Muskies were led by Erica Hoffmann (Jr.-Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) and Brittany Jurek (Jr.-Gladstone, Mich.), who both were undefeated for the day. Hoffmann defeated Kuntzi 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles and later rolled past Antoinette Goyao of Benedictine 6-4, 7-6 (12-10). Jurek defeated Taylor LaVoy of Aurora 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 singles and also swept Bhavana Movva of Benedictine 6-4, 6-4.

Hoffmann and Jurek also finished the day undefeated at No. 2 doubles. The duo edged LaVoy and Natalie Jansen of Aurora 9-7 and also picked up an 8-6 victory over Movva and Goyao of Benedictine.

Lakeland's other two wins came at No. 1 doubles. April Schmitz (Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) and Lynn Pipke (Fr.-Greenfield, Wis.) defeated Chloe Madison and Christy Savellano of Aurora 8-3 and also were 8-2 winners over Lina Savickas and Vivianna Iway of Benedictine.

The Muskies were swept in two sets in the rest of their singles matches, with Schmitz losing twice at No. 1 singles, Pipke defeated in both matches at No. 2 singles and Oberthaler finishing 0-2 at No. 3 singles. Tonn and Alissa Stephani (So.-Appleton, Wis.) also split duty at No. 6 singles, with both falling in straight sets.

Lakeland takes to the courts again Tuesday when it faces Ripon College in a non-conference duel with matches beginning at 4 p.m. at Ripon.