By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
Fort Hays State Tennis moved to 3-2 on the season with a 6-1 win over Bethel College (Kan.) on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 21) at the FHSU Tennis Courts. The Tigers won two of three doubles matches to secure the first team point, then took five of six singles matches. Two of the singles matches had to go to a tiebreak set.
The Tigers took the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches to earn the first team point of the dual. The No. 1 team of Kylie Aufdengarten and Maria Paz Diaz and No. 2 team of Aliyah Frederick and Heidi Lubbers each won by scores of 6-3. The No. 3 team of Hope Lubbers and Gracen Friess fell 6-4.
The Tigers had the match clinched when the first three singles matches were done. Stefany Stemmer rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 win at the No. 1 position. At the No. 5 position, Heidi Lubbers cruised to a 6-1 first set win but then fell 6-2 in the second. She was able to hang on in the tiebreak set 10-6. Aufdengarten clinched the dual for the Tigers with a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 4. Diaz also had to force a third set tiebreak to win at No. 2. She fell 6-3 in the first set, but battled back for a 6-2 win in the second. Like Lubbers, she also took her tiebreak set by a count of 10-6. Gracen Friess battled to a 7-5, 6-4 win at the No. 6 position. Frederick was the only Tiger to fall in her singles match by a count of 6-3, 6-0 at the No. 3 position.
The Tigers will host Barton (Kan.) Community College in a scrimmage on Friday (Sept. 24) at 3 pm that will not count toward official records. The next official match for the Tigers will be against Bethany College (Kan.) on Tuesday (Sept. 28) next week, also in Hays.